President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a special official funeral category two in honour of the late Ladysmith Black Mambazo founder, Ntate Joseph Shabalala.
This comes after the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government wrote a letter to the president requesting a state funeral for the late Joseph Shabalala.
Joseph Shabalala died at the age of 78 on the 11th February following an extended illness.
According to Channel24, the special official funeral category two entails ceremonial elements provided by the South African Police Service.
The funeral will take place on Saturday 22 February 2020.
Joseph’s eldest son Nkosinathi (59), said: “I’m happy my father’s wishes have been granted. We discussed it as a family and it was agreed he will be buried at his place of choice. Our role as the family will end on Friday.
We are expecting the president to arrive on Friday morning, wrap his coffin with the flag and thereafter proceedings will be handled by the state.” – Nkosinathi told Daily Sun
Image Courtesy: pan-african-music.com