[Here is a minor mystery. There have been deaths of popular black singers here in SA in recent years. The odds are, they are either AIDS or drug-related. This one seems to be more likely to be due to drugs. Some of these wealthy blacks, especially the musicians are heavily into drugs including cocaine. Jan]

Tsakani “TK” Mhinga was “in love and over the moon” when the singer’s best friend spoke to her about two weeks before she died.

But on Thursday, entertainment co-ordinator David Bloch was still trying to understand how the “very classy and beautiful lady” came to die alone in a Bryanston, Sandton, hotel.

As allegations of drug abuse swirl over the 27-year-old Mhinga’s as-yet unexplained death, Bloch said he had confronted Mhinga about two years ago about music industry rumours that she was on drugs.

“She told me ‘Don’t believe everything you hear’,” he said.

‘I noticed a gradual change in her behaviour’
He said that although he and Mhinga had always communicated honestly about the young woman’s struggle with alcoholism, she was “very good at concealing her heartache”.

“Even when she was feeling at her worst, TK would smile and tell you that she was going to be great. She had her share of inner demons, but she would bottle up her pain.”

Though he had never seen Mhinga take drugs, Bloch said he had been worried about the changes in the singer over the past two years.

“From about September 2004, I noticed a gradual change in her behaviour.

“My feeling was that she was maybe taking advice from the wrong people.

‘If drugs were involved in Tsakani’s death, we will address that’
“Or she was victimised by people who were drawn to her by her celebrity status and did not have her best interests at heart,” Bloch said, adding that he was aware of drug dealers who specifically targeted rising stars.

“She was a very young person who I believe really tried to take on too much for herself,” Bloch said.

Speaking about his last conversation with Mhinga, Bloch said the singer had phoned him to arrange a lunch meeting so that she could introduce him to Thomas Shrimpton, her boyfriend of three months.

Mhinga moved to the Bryanston City Lodge after she broke up with Shrimpton.

“I am really happy that my last memory of her is of a woman in love, a woman who was excited about her future.

“That’s the memory I want to keep of her, not the image of her lying on some hotel bed,” Bloch said.

Speaking to The Star on Thursday, “Tiny” Mhinga – who is married to TK’s aunt Yvonne Chaka Chaka – said TK’s family had never sought to avoid confronting the allegations of drug abuse made against her.

“If drugs were involved in Tsakani’s death, we will address that… and hopefully stop other children from taking that path.

“But we don’t yet know what happened. We need to find out what caused Tsakani’s death before we can comment,” he said.

Joburg police spokesperson Captain Schalk Bornman confirmed on Thursday that Mhinga’s autopsy had been completed.

He refused to comment until the investigation had been completed.

The investigation docket would be handed to the Inquest Court in Johannesburg.

Kwaito star Mandoza and Mncedisi Mpofu, the son of SABC chief executive Dali Mpofu, have confirmed that they socialised with Mhinga just hours before her death.

Three sources have said Malaika producer Godfrey “Guffy” Pilane was also present at the hotel.

This article was originally published on page 2 of The Star on March 03, 2006

Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click…/p>