By Mohalenyane Phakela
MASERU — Popular Lesotho Television presenter, Tšepe Mpopo, has died.
He was 37.
Mpopo died at Ts’epong Hospital on Sunday after a brief illness.
Lesotho National Broadcasting Services (LNBS) operations director, Dyke Sehloho, expressed his condolences to the Mpopo family.
He said Mpopo’s death came as a shock to his colleagues in the media fraternity.
Sehloho said Mpopo was admitted at Lehlakeng Clinic on August 11 but his condition worsened and was transferred to Ts’epong Hospital.
“We were very much surprised when we heard that he had been transferred to Ts’epong after his illness worsened.
“We however received the sad news on the 18th (of August) that he had left us,” Sehloho said.
“This came as a shock as Mpopo was here at work on the 9th and seemed quite healthy.”
Mpopo presented the LTV’s popular musical programme Litsoanya.
Sehloho said the station had lost a real asset and they were finding it very hard to accept his death as he worked hard for the television station.
Tributes flowed from his colleagues in the media yesterday.
“It is hard to find words that will describe our loss. Mpopo was a pioneer of Litsoanya music. We wonder how we are going to cope without him as we worked closely with him,” Motlatsi Lejaha, a choir master at Cenez High School who worked with Mpopo said yesterday.
Mpopo, who grew up in Lekokoaneng in Berea district, leaves behind a wife and two children.
He went to school at Mamathe High School before studying for a diploma in mass communication at the Institute of Extra-Mural Studies.
He then joined Lesotho Television in 1997 and worked as a studio operator before being appointed a presenter in 2002.
Mpopo’s memorial service will be held at the LNBS’ premises next Wednesday.
He will be buried at Koalabata on August 31.
