It’s been more than 10 years since Brenda Fassie passed away. The singer, who was loved and celebrated by many in the country, died in hospital on 9 May 2004. While some might have moved on from her passing, her only child, Bongani, is still stuck on what really happened to his mother on that fateful day.
On the latest episode of Finding Bongani Fassie, Bongz takes a trip to Cape Town and explains that the visit is not only about confronting the unspoken, but also to pay his respects to family members who have passed on.
Rebuilding the Fassie name
Bongani and his relatives, including his aunts and uncle, visited his late mother and grandparents’ gravesite and had a lot to say. The visit started with a song and prayer and was followed by a touching message from Bongani.
“We ask that the Fassie name regains its stature. Can we show or remind people who we are. Thank you. We love you,” he said, adding that his tears were not from pain, but tears of joy. “I’m happy for being able to come here and talk to you… We haven’t forsaken you. We love you.” He then tells his family that they should never abandon each other.
Seeking the truth
After that message, everybody else left and Bongani stayed behind to have a private moment with his mother. “I’m coming to you today, not as a boy but as a man,” he said. “I don’t care about the money; I want the truth. And if you don’t give [it to] me, I’m going to forcefully take it in a way that no one will be expecting.”
He then called a family meeting. “You must understand that it’s been like, fourteen years since Ma-B passed away. And obviously, as everybody knows the false information that they were fed.” The meeting was aimed at finding out what really happened on the day Brenda passed away.
Read: Is Bongani and Buhle’s relationship toxic? »
Who killed Brenda?
“When I was a boy, there was a meeting that took place in the hospital. And I wasn’t allowed to attend that meeting because I was a boy. Maybe you could tell me about what needs to be spoken about,” Bongani told his family. He then shared his opinion that the tabloids got their story wrong about the cause of Brenda’s death.
Bongani believes that if the life support machine was not switched off, his mother would have come out of the coma and had a chance to live. He asked: “Who gave the decision to switch off the machine?” It seems none of his family members gave the go-ahead for that to happen.
Read: Bongani confronts Brenda’s ex about his traumatic past »
All episodes are available to watch until 27 August 2021.
