Musician rises from the dead

Three years ago, popular maskandi musician Mgqumeni died – and this week a man claiming to be the singer arrived at the home of a traditional healer.

The man’s claim that he has returned from the grave has astonished and divided his northern KwaZulu-Natal village.

The artist, whose real name is Khulekani Khumalo, was to talk to the media and meet the public in Nquthu today after reappearing in the area last week.

Mgqumeni died in 2009 and was buried near his family home – or so his friends and family believed.

The bizarre re-appearance has sparked a frenzy on radio and TV in KwaZulu-Natal, with social network Facebook dominated by speculation over whether the man claiming to be Mgqumeni was a fraud.

If the man was for real, people said, they want to know who was buried in his place.

Mgqumeni was even asked to sing live on a Durban radio station so fans and experts could identify him by his voice.

The latter-day Lazarus told City Press he had been abducted three years ago and was living in the bush near Johannesburg with tokoloshes, zombies and animals.

“A lot of muthi was used by my captors to try to turn me into a zombie. I was rescued by a man who had found me loitering and I was taken to a spiritual healer in Kranskop, KwaZulu-Natal,” he claimed.

Members of Khumalo’s family on his father’s side were convinced the man now living with them was their grandson, but his maternal family, the Mselekus, were not so sure.

Zintombi Mseleku (72), his maternal grandmother, said she believed she had buried their grandson in 2009.

His paternal grandfather, Msolwa Hlalalimanzi Khumalo (78), was adamant that Khumalo survived a
three-year ordeal.

“Today, we will take him out and let everybody see him. For now I am trying to help him with some traditional medicine,” the musician’s grandfather said. “Although we are happy, we are still trying to come to terms with this.”

Local police are reportedly conducting tests on the corpse that was buried three years ago.

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- City Press