Child star Msawawa has shared an emotional tribute detailing his pleasure of having worked with Tsekeleke whom he says was like a big brother to him in his hay days.
The pair worked on the song Big & Smal, in which they sang about their sizes and made fun of the struggles of being big and being small in the music industry.
"He was a funny person, a pleasure to work with, that's how our song came about. I was making fun of him for being fat and he made fun of me for being so small I could hide in people's bags. He was big (literally) and I was small, not only in size but also in how he protected me like a big brother," Msawawa said.
"Sdudla mafethlethle, Fats! (Fat person)," the song starts off as Msawawa makes fun of the fat Tsekeleke, who replies by saying "a bambe mta'ka mama, ang' sase low fat baby se 100% fat (just hold the fat, I am not low fat, I'm 100% fat)".
The pair started working together when Msawawa was still in school and he said that Tsekeleke would fetch himfrom school, so they could go rehearse dance moves and make music.
"In 2008, I was still in school and he was my brother and mentor in many ways. He would come get me from school and sometimes would even help me with my homework. But more than that I was a young person in the industry and he was just the kind of person to guide without expecting something in return," he said.
Msawawa admitted that as he got older and moved to another city, they stopped communicating. He told TshisaLIVE he last spoke to Tsekeleke about two years ago.
Tsekeleke died on Tuesday evening after complications with diabetes lead to over a two months stay in hospital.
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 