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'Two Bull' finally hangs up the mic

LIKEABLE: Cocky 'Two Bull' Tlhotlhalemaje
LIKEABLE: Cocky 'Two Bull' Tlhotlhalemaje

FORMER radio personality Cocky "Two Bull" Tlhotlhalemaje will be buried on Wednesday at the Avalon Cemetery in Soweto, his family said yesterday.

Tlhotlhalemaje, 75, died of a heart failure in hospital on Friday night.

Tlhotlhalemaje's knack to "slang" like an African-American, earned him a place in the broadcasting industry. He was born Cocky Poohopedi Tlhotlhalemaje and when he went to the US in the early 1980s, translated his Tswana name to English (Two Bull), for the benefit of the Americans who could not pronounce it.

Tlhotlhalemaje joined Channel 702, now Talk Radio 702, in 1980 as the first black announcer. At the time of his death he was involved with TV mini movies as well as radio and TV adverts.

Station manager Pheladi Gwangwa described the former radio personality and jazz musician as "a great man".

"We are saddened by the passing of Cocky. He was still part of us. He was still boisterous with a lovely personality," said Gwangwa.

According to Gwangwa, Tlhotlhalemaje joined the then music station as a DJ in the 1980s at the height of apartheid.

"We had four DJs, a black, a white, an Indian and a coloured. Because of the laws back then we had a licence to broadcast from the outskirts of GaRankuwa in the then Bophuthatswana.

"Cocky was among the first people in the station's first line-up."

Cassius Tlhotlhalemaje, his elder son, said his father had a "humour that would disarm even his worst enemy".

"He loved his family and was always available to lend a helping hand to us, his neighbours and the community of Central Western Jabavu, where he lived," Cassius said.

Tlhotlhalemaje was born in Alexandra in 1937 and attended schools, among others, the famous Orlando High, in Soweto.

His funeral service will be at St Francis Anglican Church in Rockville, Soweto, from 8am and the cortege leaves for the cemetery at 11am.

He is survived by two sons and a daughter, and several grandchildren.

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