Journalist Gillian Pillay‚ who climbed Kilimanjaro last year‚ says the death of racing driver Gugu Zulu on Monday while attempting to reach the summit of Africa’s highest mountain is like having lost a close member of her family‚ even though she did not know him.“It seems like it happened to a close member of my family and I didn’t even know him. I’m very touched. It feels as if it happened to me. I can’t imagine what his wife was going through‚” said Pillay‚ who was part of the same Trek4Mandela expedition a year ago. “Gugu’s death... What a loss for the campaign.”Gugu Zulu's wife 'at his side for his final moments'The founder of the Imbumba Foundation has described the final moments of Gugu Zulu's life, saying his wife Letshego 'did everything for him' in his final moments. Pillay‚ a Johannesburg-based SABC television news reporter‚ found out from another member of last year’s group about Zulu’s death on Monday – a year to the day she herself reached Africa’s highest point.She recalled how her body was on the point of collapse after reaching Gilman’s Point‚ thinking she had already reached the summit‚ Uhuru Peak.“We were told we still had two hours to go and I remember just saying ‘Hail Mary’s’. People were collapsing‚ people were vomiting and people were turning back. You see‚ but you don’t see‚” she said.“Every bone in your body is saying ‘You can’t do this’. On the actual climb‚ that ascent‚ it’s one foot in front of another.”But Pillay said it never crossed her mind to quit.“You push beyond your body’s limits. I don’t think anyone ever thinks they are not going to come back‚” she said.“I can imagine Gugu‚ being a sportsman‚ that yearning he would have had to summit. To do this for Madiba.”TMG Digital/The Herald..