Today marks exactly a year since musician Mandla 'Mampintsha' Maphumulo passed away. Mampintsha died at the age of 40 on Christmas Eve last year. A few days earlier, he had suffered a stroke which landed him in hospital. The Gqom king suffered another stroke after a performance in KwaZulu-Natal. 

TRIBUTE

Nondumiso Simelane, the elder sister of Babes Wodumo has penned an emotional tribute to her late brother-in-law. Nondumiso wrote on her social media page that Mampintsha first fell sick on 19 December last year. Written in IsiZulu, Nondumiso said: "Today is the day owaqala ngakho ukugula.Wafika ekhaya uzihambela uzongilanda cause asihlukani, 2 hours ungilandile kwaba worse we had to cover your gigs siwahlanganise naka Babes kodwa kulo sofa esikushiye kuwo sakufica kuwo showed you ama video ama perfomance wafa insini cause I wanted to see you smile....So today we going to the same gig we covered for you this day is a never forget day and lalela sbali kulama gig anamhlanje into esobe siyi perfoma Kobe ngathi asisile emakhanda uyeza umhlaka 24 kulungile sokhuluma ngawo ngalo usuku it's fine .Rest my sbali rest Shimora," Basically she is saying that when Mampintsha fell ill, he had fetched her but barely two hours in, he fell sick and they had to cover up for him, along with Babes, where he was booked. When they got back home, he was still on the same couch they left him on but they shared the videos from the gig and Mampintsha laughed silly....Fast forward to today, they are attending the same gig they did last year and they are going to perform like crazy in his memory.

Since the beginning of the week, Babes has been posting pictures of Mampintsha with short captions calling him her boyfriend or her person.

SUCCESSFUL AS A SOLO

Apart from winning several awards with Big Nuz, including Record of the Year at the SA Music Awards, Mampintsha also made a huge impact as a solo artist. Some of his bangers include Ngeke, Impempe and Khona. Mampintsha, from the multi-award winning group Big Nuz, had suffered a minor stroke upon return from a performance with Big Nuz on December 22 December last year. He fell seriously ill on December 15, and the family took him to the King Edward Hospital. He was later transferred to Durdoc Hospital, where he took his last breath on December 24. 

Mampintsha's funeral, attended by the who's who of the showbiz industry, took place on December 30, at the Durban ICC. A few weeks after his passing, the family lost his mother, Zamanguni Cynthia Gumede-Zuma. 

Gumede-Zuma, 64, who battled with illness long before Mampintsha died, passed away at Wentworth Hospital in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal in January.