While family, fellow musicians and fans bid farewell to the late Thami Shobede at a moving memorial ceremony on Wednesday, his close friend Themba Humana lashed out at Gallo Record Company for allegedly not paying the musician his royalties.
In his speech, he mentioned that the 'Idols SA' star was frustrated over not being able to terminate his contract with the label.
Shobede's memorial was held at the Assemblies of God in Sandton, Johannesburg, where everyone shared his life through song and dance.
Shobede died at Kalafong Hospital in Pretoria last Thursday after he was admitted following him collapsing on stage during performance about a week earlier.
The family confirmed that he suffered from depression.
During his speech, Humana started by apologising to all of star's friends for not informing them of his illness.
"I want to apologise to all his friends that Thami was in hospital. We wanted to protect him from media and all those things. He didn't want everyone to know that he was sick."
He continued: "The question that I got on social media from everyone who knows that I'm close with Thami, was 'Themba what happened to uThami'? I did not answer that question purposely, I was waiting for this day to come and answer the question.
"When we saw that the situation was getting worse, we called Gallo. Gallo never responded to us. Gallo was not there for uThami, that's the truth of the matter, we need to talk about it.
He went on to explain that Shobede's friends would organise gigs for him and his label would allegedly demand a percentage of his earnings.
"Gallo would say, 'We want 20% of the money you're getting'. Thami would share the rest with his full band, management from "Idols" a lady called Kim.
Thami's friend Themba Humana speaks out against Gallo Records alleging the company was in no way supportive toward him.
"The career that was supposed to make Thami a star is the one that took him away." @ReporterStar @IOL_Lifestyle #RIPThamiShobede
— Mpiletso Motumi (@mane_mpi) September 18, 2019
Humama further explained that Shobede's memorial service was organised by family and friends.
"When we approached them (Gallo) about the memorial service, their response was we can only give you R5000," he said.
Humana continued: "The career that was supposed to make Thami a star, is the career that took Thami. If Gallo. you're a person or you have ears, I want to ask you this question, are you proud of yourself?"