“To my skhokho and father of our children, Ke go rata f****d up san.”
The funeral service of music promoter and artist Pheko Kgengoe was held in June, but the tombstone with this message emerged recently on social media.
A lot of social media users were shocked by the language.
But Pheko’s widow Tsepang (33) explained the message to Daily Sun.Tsepang said: “I see people are misunderstanding this. We got married in November 2018 when he was 35.”
She said that’s the way they have always talked to each other.
“It was our thing. We called each other skhokho and he’d say he loves me f****d up,” said the young widow and mum of one, who’s expecting her second child.“For us that meant ‘very much’.”
“I did the tombstone with the knowledge that my friend had just been stolen away from me, and knowing I wouldn’t see him again.
“I wanted to have something I could relate to whenever I went there.”
She said this meant no disrespect to Pheko.
“I’m sorry that people misunderstood my message,” she said.
Pheko’s aunt refused to comment.
She referred the SunTeam to his wife, Tsepang (33).
Two weeks before Pheko from Dobsonville in Soweto died, he had a conversation with ellow artist, Terrence McKay.
“We were discussing our next song and he chose heaven,” Terrence told Daily Sun.
It was as if Pheko knew what was coming.
“When I heard he’d passed away I told myself I’d release the song as a tribute to Pheko.”
Social media user Lunga Ndaba said the message is disrespectful to the dead.
However, some people did understand this may have been the language the couple used.
“It’s like when you used to call each other sthandwa. When one is dead, there’s no problem with the other calling the deceased sthandwa,” tweeted Mongezi.