Bongekile ‘Babes Wodumo‘ SImelane has had a rough start to the new year but if this viral snippet of her dancing in front of her mother-in-law’s coffin is anything to go by, then she might be coping a lot better than we thought.
Babes Wodumo dances at mom-in-law’s funeral
The Gqom hitmaker recently lost her husband and kwaito legend Mandla ‘Mampintsha’ Maphumulo in December 2022 to severe health issues that were exacerbated by multiple bouts of strokes.
Less than a month later, on 15 January 2023, the Big Nuz leader’s mother, Zamanguni Gumede, also succumbed to a fatal stroke, five days after she was admitted to hospital.
Reports claim Gumede’s health deteriorated severely after Mampintsha’s death, and days before her death, her dementia had gotten so bad, she had lost all memories of her son’s passing.
Gumede was laid to rest KwaMashu in Durban on Saturday, 21 January 2023 in what was more of a celebration of her life than a sombre affair.
Babes, who’s still reeling from the loss of her husband, was the centre of attention at Gumede’s funeral.
While, for the most part, the Wololo hitmaker played her role as a grieving daughter-in-law to the Gumede family, a snippet of her dancing in front of Mampintsha’s mom’s coffin drew ire on social media.
It’s no secret that Gumede’s relationship with Babes had been fractured by in-fighting. Murmurs that surfaced on social media last week had suggested that Babes was not allowed at Gumede’s funeral.
Of course, this turned out to be fake news.
Not only was Babes in attendance, but she also gave this impassioned tribute to her mom-in-law, a side of the hitmaker that always fails to triumph over the negative press she gets for being herself.