Reggae icon Lucky Dube shot dead in Jozi

Reggae icon Lucky Dube shot dead in Jozi

LUCKY DUBE

• Lucky Dube's Zimbabwe tour ends in riots

By Showbiz Editor

ONE of Lucky Dube's biggest hits was the song, Rastas Never Die.

But on Thursday night, the South African reggae icon was shot and killed in front of his son and daughter.

Dube, 43, was killed just after 8PM in an apparent car hijacking attempt and police were searching for three suspects. Two men approached him and opened fire.

Dube was the biggest-selling reggae singer in South Africa and has won over 20 awards locally and internationally.

SAPA reported that the singer was attacked when he was dropping his son off at his uncle's house in Johannesburg's Rossetenville suburb.

"His son was already out of the car. When he saw what was happening, he ran to ask for help," SAPA quoted police spokeswoman Cheryl Engelbrecht as saying.

An injured Dube tried to flee but drove his grey Chrysler sedan into a tree and died on the scene. No further details were available as his son, who reportedly witnessed the incident, was still in shock.

Among the first to arrive at the scene were fellow musicians Mzwakhe Mbuli, Ringo Madlingozi and Deborah Fraser.

Mbuli said: "It's a contrast that while the country is preparing itself for the Rugby World Cup final, we are robbed by this tragedy.

"How do you celebrate when you're in mourning? I hope the police get to the bottom of this and arrest the culprits."

According to a witness quoted in the Star newspaper, the hijackers opened the musician's door and shot him twice.

"Dube tried to drive away and hit a black Opel Corsa and then lost control of his car and hit a tree."

Dube's recording company, Gallo Records, paid tribute to the musician.

"He was a soft, well-spoken man, and a great friend," said Ivor Haarburger, the CEO of the Gallo music group.

Haarburger said Dube was the best reggae performer in the world and that he had bigger following internationally than in South Africa.

"He was huge in (the rest of) Africa, he could draw 40 000 to 50 000 people to a concert," Haarburger said.

He said Dube had recently been spending time overseas, getting his material released and had been talking of a new album. "But we were nowhere near to recording."

Lucky Dube was born on August 3, 1964, in Ermelo, Mpumalanga. He launched his career as an mbaqanga singer in 1979 and switched to reggae in 1984 to express his anger against apartheid.

Dube's killing is one of the most high-profile killings in South Africa, which has one of the world's worst murder rates.

The number of rapes, carjackings and assaults also are high, with some of the most violent types of crime rising last year despite efforts to beef up police forces.

Dube will be remembered for hits like Remember Me, Prisoner, The Way It Is, Slave and Rastas Never Die.

The Slave and Rastas Never Die albums shot him to prominence during South Africa's struggle with apartheid. The lyrics were entrenched with issues of equality, spirituality and the scourge of poverty and deprivation.
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