DURBAN - A KZN gospel musician fell to his death from the second floor of a shopping mall in the Czech Republic.
Mandla Jiyane, 25, is reported to have fallen last weekend from the Flora shopping mall in Prague.
The Zululand Gospel choir member went to the country with the group two years ago and had returned to pursue a music career.
His family in Nseleni, near Richards Bay, were told of the death by his Czech partner, Lucie Kostelecka, who is also a musician.
Kostelecka said Jiyane had gone with a colleague to watch a movie at the cinema. “No one bothered to contact me, I had to find out on my own. Police told me they had footage showing he jumped, which I don’t believe. There was no reason for him to commit suicide, he had no problems and had just found a job,” said the 37-year-old woman.
Kostelecka said the second floor at the mall was 12m high and she had received conflicting statements about his death.
“The colleague told police that they were smoking marijuana and he started acting strangely and jumped. I don’t believe that. He never smoked or drank alcohol. Others said there was a fight at the mall, someone tapped him from the back and he got a fright and fell. I just don’t know what to believe,” she said. Jiyane and Kostelecka have a four-month-old son.
The office of the South African ambassador in the Czech Republic did not respond by the time of