The daughter of the late actor, producer and director Shona Ferguson, Alicia Ferguson, has promised to carry on the legacy of her father and make him proud.

Alicia was speaking during her father's funeral service that took place on Wednesday morning at the Fourways Memorial Cemetery, north of Johannesburg.

In a emotional send-off, she told mourners that she had a weird relationship with her father because they had the same characteristics. Ferguson, who was famously known as Uncle Sho, died on Friday afternoon due to Covid-19-related complications .

He was diagnosed with Covid-19 on June 26 and later went to Pine Haven Hospital when symptoms became serious. Just a day after being released he was readmitted again due to complications and later airlifted to Milpark Hospital, where he spent two weeks at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Alicia said her father always made her believe that she can touch the stars.

“My father motivated me to take bigger steps in life that I would have taken. I am thankful that he enabled me to do that. In the past, I was a child who is very much in the shell and he opened that shell. I realised that now and it means a lot to me. He made me a promise that he will always be on my side no matter what comes. I also make a promise to you to carry on with the legacy and make you and the family proud.”

The service, that was live on SABC and social media, was watched by over 50,000 people on YouTube. People watched from all over Africa, especially Botswana where Ferguson was born, as well as Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Antony Masilo, Connie Ferguson’s brother, said: “I met Shona long before he dated my sister. Then he started dating my sister but I did not approve at first. They got married after four months of dating. Later, he became more than my brother-in-law, he was my brother. I'm happy that their marriage became the personification of two people in love.”

Lesedi Matsunyane-Ferguson said: “Dad came into my life 20 years ago. We always knew when dad was around because of his laughter and because he always smelled good. He impacted our lives in so many different ways.

“There are many fights he fought in silence to protect us as the family. The lesson we take from him is to work hard and chase things we want in life. Some of the qualities we learned from him were to fight for your family and never stopping being yourself.”

Lerato Pilane said Ferguson fought hard in the two weeks he spent at the Milpark Hospital’s ICU.  

“Being the fighter that he was, he fought a good fight. In these two weeks, we prayed hard as a family and we knew that he was praying with us because he was a man who loved praying. He was our pillar, a leader when it comes to faith, and when it comes to praising God.”