ALI MPHAKI
JAZZ musician and broadcaster Cocky “Two-Bull” Tlhotlhalemaje has died at the age of 75.
The first African to work on 702 Talk Radio, Tlhotlhalemaje died of a heart ailment at a Joburg hospital on Friday.
The showbusiness personality had featured in several movies, including The Scavengers, and worked with acclaimed actors such as Jack Nicholson, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda.
Among the musical plays he featured in were the internationally acclaimed Sponono, written by Alan Paton, and King of the Dark Chamber.
702 station manager Pheladi Gwangwa described the former radio personality as a great man with a lovely personality.
“He was still the life of the party, boisterous as ever,” he said.
Condolences poured in yesterday as word got out that “The Oos Kaboos Pataka Two Bull Shuffle” – as his former Radio 702 colleague Aki Anastasiou referred to him – was no more.
“It was an honour to have known him and worked with him,” Anastasiou wrote on Twitter.
Another former colleague, Mesh Mapetla, described Tlhotlhalemaje’s death as a shock. “When I heard he was hospitalised, I had hoped he would recover. He was a hero and a pathfinder as the first African to work for an English-speaking urban radio in South Africa. He opened ways for what we see today and taught us a lot of things when it comes to broadcasting,” he said.
Yesterday, Tlhotlhalemaje’s daughter Luanda said her father had a premonition, because three weeks ago, he wrote his life’s history, detailing all his major achievements. “We are saddened by his death, but my father lived his life to the fullest.”
Tlhotlhalemaje will be buried on Wednesday after a funeral service at St Francis Anglican Church in Rockville, starting at 8am
. He will be buried at Avalon Cemetery.