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Agony and anguish is what remains for the family of a business power couple who died in a car accident on Sunday.
Thabiso, 56, and Ayanda, 54, Tlelai died while traveling back to Johannesburg from Durban, where they had visited their 15-year-old son in boarding school.
The couple operated numerous companies in property development, mining, tourism and financial services in Gauteng, Free State, Eastern Cape and Lesotho.
Family spokesman Lerato Banda said they were still coming to terms with the loss of two loved ones at the same time. He described the couple as good role models whom young people looked up to, especially for their family values.
Banda told TimesLIVE that the family will miss his warmth, charisma, and strong leadership.
“They both loved and valued the family and they were the glue that held us together,” he said.
The couple’s memorial service will be held Nov. 6 at their home in Waterfall, Midrand, at noon. They will be buried in Maseru, Lesotho, on November 14.
The couple died in a terrible accident near the eastern Free State town of Warden on Sunday afternoon.
Thabiso graduated from BCom from Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada and was the owner and CEO of Don Suite Hotels for more than a decade. He served on the boards of directors of SA Tourism, National Empowerment Corporation and Basil Read, among others. He was also the founder and president of the Consejo Empresarial Turístico de SA (TBCSA).
Ayanda graduated from the National University of Lesotho with a law degree. A defender of the South African High Court, she was the first black member of the Free State Bar in 1996, but resigned to join her husband in the business, where she was instrumental in building the Free State and Lesotho branches of family businesses.
Banda said the Tlelai family “is humbled and extremely grateful for the messages of tribute, love and condolences that we have received from thousands of people throughout southern Africa.”
“Words cannot express our gratitude for the kind words we have received, they have given us strength in this difficult and emotionally exhausting period for us,” he said.
Thabiso and Ayanda are survived by two sons, Bonang, 30, Sentso, 15, and their daughter, Matseliso, 25.
TimesLIVE
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