Madlela in death hoax

AXE wielding Rhumba musician cum actor Madlela Skhobokhobo woke up yesterday morning to the news that he had died at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo.

Social media was abuzz with a poster doing the rounds that Madlela had died after suffering from a headache on Tuesday evening.

Madlela made frantic efforts to assure fans that he was alive and kicking and visited Chronicle offices to allay their fears.

The soft spoken singer said only God can take his life.

"People should stop spreading these rumours that I'm dead. Only God can do so at His appointed time. No person no matter how much they wish me dead, will cause my death. I'll only die when the time has come for me to leave this planet," said Madlela.

The singer was in Gwanda at Ultra High Business Centre on a voter registration outreach programme with National Youth Development Trust on Tuesday together with Clement Magwaza.

Madlela said when he returned home, his phone was already off and was surprised in the morning when people were sending condolence messages.

"As soon as I switched on my cell phone in the morning, I was inundated by calls and messages from all over, South Africa, Zimbabwe and even as far as England with people concerned that I was dead," said Madlela.

He said the news of his death had at first devastated his wife who is in South Africa.

"My wife is in South Africa and she was distraught after hearing the fake news that I had died at Mpilo Hospital. Luckily she understands the nature of the entertainment business. Not everyone will like you and not everyone will wish you well. I believe whoever did this, wishes me dead," said Madlela.

He said whoever made the poster did not have his best interests at heart.

"I believe it's a rumour that was started by someone and I don't know what their intention was. These are pure lies that I'm no more. I'm not even sick, I'm fit and strong. I don't know what they were trying to achieve," said Madlela.

Turning to his career Madlela said this year he will be working on the acting side through the series Madlela Skhobokhobo.

"For this year I'm working on my acting side. People have been saying that I've been concentrating on the music side too much. So I'm in talks with ZBCtv for me to give them another series of Madlela soon," he said.

The award winning artiste said last year was a blistering year in his musical career because of his new found fame through the song Ngamnanka and this year he will do a follow up of that song with Sorry.

"Sorry is a follow up to Ngamnanka uSamamoe another is Bhinya Road. There are many that I'll release this year but I believe that Sorry will be the one which will be popular because it's close to my heart as a musician," said Madlela.

"The song uSamamoe opened a lot of doors for me as a musician as many people came to know me through the song, " he said.