Fall Of A Giant

Those close to Xolani Gwala remember the radio host’s final days – his boundless love, unbreakable spirit and his wish to see cancer treatment made accessible to all

- Khosi Biyela

IT’S going to be a difficult fight and a long fight. But it’s a fight I’m ready for.”

These were the words Xolani Gwala spoke shortly after returning to the airwaves following an extended absence to treat his cancer – a disease that had toppled the popular radio host in the prime of his life.

The man known as XG, Bra X and Mr X was back – and he was cautiously optimistic about the future.

Yes, he was in remission and things looked good but he knew it could take up to 10 years before he was officially cancer free. But he had so much to live for and he’d do everything he could to battle the beast if it preyed on him again.

“It’s been a crazy year and it’s going to take me a really long time to understand it. It’s been hell – perhaps that’s the easiest thing to say,” he said on SABC2’s Morning Live.

“The lesson is to be grateful.”

For a few months the man with the beloved baritone voice and infectious giggle was back, by turns charming, informing and entertaining listeners on his breakfast show on Radio 702.

Then the beast was back, more hungry than before. Xolani (44) took his final breath on 1 November at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre in Johannesburg surrounded by his loved ones, including his wife, Peggy-Sue Khumalo (46), and younger brother, Mdu.

“He died peacefully,” Mdu said at his brother’s memorial service at the Rivonia Catholic Church in Joburg.

“He’d been in so much pain. After taking his last breath, he was at peace.”

Even though the disease claimed Xolani’s life, his family intend to continue fighting in his name. They want to establish a foundation to support people living with cancer, especially the poor.