Childhood and industry friends described Robbie Malinga on Tuesday as a big dreamer, a compassionate man, part comicic, and a devoted family man.
Malinga was being remembered during his funeral service at Rhema Bible Church in Johannesburg on Tuesday. He died on Christmas Day, surrounded by his family, after a long illness since he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June this year.
Childhood friend Cassius Thalmaje said that Malinga was a family man and knew the importance of spending quality time with his family.
Fellow musicians such as Doc Shebeleza said that they went back a long way back with Malinga, to the start of their careers.
“I have known Robbie for the past 25 years after we met in church at Meadowlands Zone 9. We did many things together trying to start this thing. We would cry together. Then Freddie Gwala put us together where Robbie played the keyboard and we launched our careers,” Shebeleza said.
“Though sometimes things would be tough for me, Robbie never forgot me and he would visit me, bringing groceries and other necessities. The suit I’m wearing now is the one he bought it for me for R10,000 to wear as the best man at his wedding. And I am grateful to his wife Ann because none of those things ever made it to the tabloid papers because they understood where we are coming from as friends.”
Former business partner and friend, TK Ncinza described Malinga as a big dreamer who always had his eye on the next big thing but yet not forgetting to empower those around him.
“Robbie was a big dreamer and he was the best producer of our time. He loved success but also wanted everybody to succeed. When he moved to Spruit, he said he was now living in town. When he moved to Fourways, he said he now stays in Deirnfen. You could see that if he had moved to Hartebeespoort, he would declare that he now owns the dam,” Ncinza said.
Musician Musa Sukwene described the types of jokes he would share with his mentor and producer, a man he said he had grown to consider a father figure.
“The hardest thing for me to do is begin the year by laying to rest my brother. I am still shocked that he is no more,” Sukwene said.
“We met seven years ago and I started long ago to ask him to do a collaboration with me. He used to say we won’t do a collab because “wena uyacula” (you are a singer). Then he would say no one gets to collaborate with the great Robbie Malinga.”
As a soccer fan and an ardent Orlando Pirates supporter, club chairman Irvin Khoza – through representative Floyd Mbhele – passed on his condolences, saying he feels the Malinga family’s grief because he and Robbie’s father grew up in the same street in Orlando, Soweto.
SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said Malinga showed the country that he was the best in the industry.
“We will forever be grateful that we crossed paths with him. He was a jolly guy and would not fight anyone because he wanted everyone to prosper. We have always beloved that he was the best in what he was doing,” Kganyago said.
“In 2014 while deciding who should win the MetroFM lifetime achievement award, we decided to give it to Robbie. That was our way of saying we appreciate what he was doing. On a personal level, I asked him to get me [musician] Ntando to come sing at my party in April 2017, but he came with Musa and they sang, and that made my day.”
– African News Agency (ANA)
