Mzansi has been stunned by the demise of a well-known actor and jazz musician. In the theatrical and on tv, Diphapang Phillip was nicknamed as ‘Bra Pubs’ Mbele.

 

Bra Pubs (70), who rose to prominence as a musician of Dolly Rathebe’s band and as a performer at Gibson Kente’s playhouse, died on Thursday at Johannesburg’s Chris Hani Baragwanath Clinic.

On February 16 of this year, he was hospitalized with an unexplained illness.

A spokeswoman for the Bra Pubs family, Sylvester Bodibe, claimed he had recently died after being ill for some time. He compared the recipient’s death to the fall of a massive tree in a field of flowers.

“He seemed to have the capacity to not only come to grips with the conflict, but also to reconcile something through his jokes,” Sylvester explained.

Bra Pubs rose to prominence after appearing in a number of plays, including Khumo Lehumo Le Kgosi: War in 2013, wherein he played Khumo. In a little movie directed Mzansi Bioskop entitled Legacy, he portrays the deceased Thandeka Mdeliswa, a jazz artist.

He made his mark in the arts by participating in the band of locally and abroad vocalist Dolly Rathebe and accompanying acoustic guitar in a production by Bra Boikie Mohlamme and Roseline Morapedi called Mahlomola The Musical.