The word death didn't even cross my mind, says Letshego Zulu about Gugu's final moments

In a telling interview with Anele Mdoda on Real Talk Gugu Zulu's widow, Letshego relived her husband's final moments before he died.

Speaking out for the first time about the traumatic experience which has left her and those close to the racing car driver shattered, Letshego poured her heart out about running alongside her husband for 8 hours.

Gugu and Letshego were part of a Trek4Mandela expedition to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for sanitary pads, when he fell gravely ill.

During the interview Letshego took a trip down memory lane, reminiscing about the joyful life she had with Gugu for 15 years.

Letshego described how she 'stalked' him for 7 months through texts and phone calls, revealing that she fell in love with him even before they officially met.

Letshego celebrated her husband's life with fond memories of their whirlwind romance.

Towards the end of the interview Letshego opened up about why they decided to join the expedition and the moments that led up to the unthinkable.

"Being Gugu Zulu he didn't want me to worry and downplayed the way he was feeling. The flu was a decoy, and was not what he succumbed to. He succumbed to altitude sickness," she said.

Letshego went on to explain that on the day that Gugu died they were in separate groups and they only caught up to each other after lunch on the Sunday.

"When I got closer to him, he stood up and gave me this hug like no other. I can safely say that was his hug goodbye to me. We hugged for the longest time and we both broke down in tears," she said.

An emotional Letshego explained that she felt like Gugu insisting on them being separated was because he didn't want her to see him suffer.

"I don't think he knew that he would suffer so much."

Letshego said that if she had known he was so unwell, she would have made the decision to turn around earlier.

Anele asked Letshego if they were talking while getting down the mountain.

"Gugu was unconscious, all the way. He was unconscious before we left Kibo and that's why the doctor made the decision to descend," she said.

Letshego revealed that she spoke to him all the way down for 8 hours.

"Uhm... we, I was talking to him the whole way... I just kept on saying to him 'just hold on, hold on for our daughter.' And I was pretty much just begging him to hold on the whole way. And I kept on saying 'you'll be fine, you'll be okay'."

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She said she even remembers bargaining with God at some point. "And, you know I went as far as saying 'even if he's in a coma for the next six months. That's how far I took it," she told Anele.

Letshego added that she was not expecting the outcome and that death didn't even cross her mind.

"And I don't even think the word death crossed my mind.... I honestly don't know how I managed to walk and run down that mountain for eight hours, because that's how long it took," Letshego said. 

Letshego plans to start The Gugu Zulu Foundation to continue his legacy, and is determined to start a medical facility in Gugu's name to make sure as few lives are lost on Mount Kilimanjaro.

Watch the full interview here: