The Sunday News
Bongani Ndlovu, Sunday Life Correspondent
“KUBUHLUNGU (It hurts)!” These are the words that she said after the interview, as she inhaled a waft of air, before slowly and seemingly painfully exhaling, like to release some of the hurt she felt.
Her name is Michelle Maphosa, and she was talking about a year long relationship with the late rapper, Cal_Vin that has left her with memories and so many unanswered questions.
Cal_Vin died on 28 October after he was run over by a car just metres away from his Luveve 5 home, he was with Michelle and two other people when the incident happened. The perpetrator is still at large and police have said they are still investigating the case.
Having met Cal_Vin in September last year the thought never crossed her mind that she would a year down the line, be mourning his death.
Two weeks ago, Cal_Vin was supposed to celebrate his 36th birthday on 15 December and that was the day she says they had planned to get married.
All in all, Michelle says what she is left with are memories of someone who loved a lot and loved big, something she says is rare.
“I met Cal_Vin last year in September. He and his friend Gift who lives in my neighbourhood devised a plan so that he talks to me. They came to my house acting as if they were looking for me because I had lost something in an ET I was in and Gift picked it up. Gift has a fiancé, an Indian lady who they used to get into our house and call me out.
When we went outside the yard, I saw two guys and one of them was Cal_Vin. Since he was famous, he thought I knew who he was but I had no clue. After sometime of talking Cal_Vin asked me for my number,” said Michelle.
With numbers exchanged the two started chatting and they became very good friends within a month, until Cal_Vin invited her to his house in Luveve 5.
When she got there, while in his room she observed studio equipment, his numerous awards and it did not click that Cal_Vin was an artiste. They were with a couple of his friends in the studio.
From then they became close, and she was soon comfortable around his company.
“It became easy for us to relate because he was easy going and I enjoyed his company. A month or so later he conjured up the courage to say he liked me and wanted me to be more than a friend. I dodged that part and I wanted to study him first,” said Michelle.
The turning point in their relationship was when Cal_Vin invited her to accompany her to Victoria Falls, he was performing there.
Michelle revealed that the couple travelled in a haulage truck (gonyeti) for his performance there and still she did not know that he was a hip-hop star.
“After sometime he asked me to accompany him to a show in Victoria Falls. I was still clueless. He was still asking me out saying he wants to be with me, he wanted me to be by his side.
“We travelled to Vic Falls using a gonyeti. He said to me don’t you want to do something fun and that’s how we travelled to Vic Falls. It was my first time being in a haulage truck. We had a fun journey,” said Michelle.
It only dawned on her when they got to the venue, after checking in to their accommodation that Cal_Vin was an artiste.
“I first got to know that Cal_Vin was an artiste when we were in Victoria Falls. When we got to the club and he introduced himself and his DJ and he was told that he would be on stage at midnight. This is when I gathered up the courage to ask if he was an artiste. He said yes and he thought I was not going to be around him because of the stigma that artistes have but I assured him that wasn’t the case,” said Michelle.
This was the first of many times that she saw him on stage and after the trip this was the time that she and Cal_Vin started dating.
Michelle described that period as a whirlwind romance as the two were inseparable, they went everywhere and anywhere together, bars, football matches with his beloved Highlanders FC.
“Cal_Vin would say to me, I want you by my side always. I don’t want to go to shows or other places without you. I want to put my life right, do the right things and not put myself in situations that I’ll later regret,” said Michelle.
That is when he started saying that he wanted to marry her and she fell pregnant with his child around July.
“Before the whole Corona pandemic, he was speaking about marriage and when he asked me about it, I said I will think about it. He had said to me that in August there about he’d go on a tour to Europe and when he returns, he would have enough money for him to approach my family and for us to plan for the wedding,” said Michelle.
“However, all those plans were dashed because of the virus and he didn’t get a chance to go.”
Michelle said the initial date was on 31 August, her birthday, but they pushed it to 15 December on his birthday.
When she fell pregnant, Cal_Vin was adamant that the baby was a boy, since he has a girl in the name of Khloe.
“I wasn’t feeling well lately, so I went and did a scan, and it was confirmed that it was a boy just like Cal_Vin predicted, like what he wanted,” said Michelle.
As she reminisced of what could have been, Michelle says she is still in pain, she still cannot believe that Cal_Vin is no more.
“I’m still struggling to accept the fact that he is no more. Even now I still can’t get my head around to understand what happened. I miss him, I miss going out with him. Sometimes he was like my father, brother, my everything. He was my friend, my best friend,” said Michelle.
“Kubuhlungu, that he was right, that it’s a boy, and that he isn’t here to witness all this, yah kubuhlungu.”
