"We Placed Soul Jah Love 's Body On A Car Seat... Hoping He Was Still Alive"
Soul Jah Love ‘s last manager Kudzi “Junky” Ruwisi says they had a hard time accepting that the Zimdancehall chanter had died to the extent that they placed his body on a car seat just like a normal person hoping he was still alive.
Soul Jah Love, born Soul Musaka, died on the 16th of February 2021 at Mbuya Dorcas Hospital in Harare.
Ruwisi spoke to The Herald in an exclusive interview detailing that people who gathered at Mbuya Dorcas Hospital were in denial that the singer had actually died. He said:
I went to Mbuya Dorcas Hospital after hearing that he had been admitted. When I got there, the doctors, despite knowing me since I always took him there previously, refused to let me in. They insisted I should call his brother first.
While calling the brother, I went outside and discovered that a few colleagues in the music were in the car park, already crying. They are the ones who told me that Jah Love was no more. But I refused to believe it.
I remember seeing cars representing funeral homes arriving, nearly every funeral home I know was represented, with the hospital security battling to contain the situation because more people were also arriving as rumours of his death spread.
His brother, who had just arrived, turned down all funeral homes and decided to carry the remains of Sauro with his car to the mortuary.
In fact, many people don’t know this, but we actually placed his body on a car seat, just like a normal person, because we had hope that he was still alive. We drove his body to Fidelity Funeral Home and when we arrived, we told the mortuary staff to not rush in putting it in the mortuary.
The truth is, we did not believe that he was dead, because due to diabetes, many times he went unconscious and later woke up. But hours later we gave up, he was indeed no more.
Sauro battled diabetes for years, but many also believed that he abused drugs.
A close friend of his told The Herald that the late chanter abused drugs as a way of dealing with personal issues including an unsupportive family, diabetes, not being a father and the societal ridicule which came as a result of it, as well as the separation with Bounty Lisa.
Soul Jah Love was declared a liberation war hero and buried at Warren Hills Cemetery.
