Larger than life, with a kind and caring personality.
This is how friends, colleagues and family members remembered the Rev Xolani Tengo on Thursday at his funeral in New Brighton.
Tengo died at Livingstone Hospital on Sunday last week after being admitted with breathing difficulties.
He was 58.
His wife, Xoliswa, spoke candidly of him in a message read out by a family member at the Nangoza Jebe Hall.
“It is still very sour and painful. You are the love of my life,” the message read.
“You are the one who did everything humanly possible to protect me.
“You were the one who understood the true meaning of our marriage. You taught me about unconditional love,” she said.
Tengo was a minister in the Methodist Church in Motherwell.
He left the ANC more than two years ago after having been a member for 27 years, and joined the EFF.
At the time, he accused the ANC of having lost its moral fibre.
EFF secretary-general Godrich Gardee recalled Tengo’s first encounter with party president Julius Malema in 2016.
“Tengo stood up and begun to sing Lizalise idinga lakho Thixo wenyaniso [God of truth fulfill] at the same hall we are at today.
“The crowd went mad. The atmosphere in the house suddenly turned electric.
“He led the song from the first verse until the end and handed over to the president to speak,” Gardee said.
The next day Malema approached Gardee in Johannesburg, saying they must get in touch with Tengo and bring him into the party’s fold.
His passion for education was also highlighted at the funeral.
He established the Tengo Dialogue Foundation that was responsible for raising money for school uniforms and shoes for underprivileged children.
Zanoxolo Wayile, a former Nelson Mandela Bay mayor, said Tengo lived a full life as a politician, businessman, social activist and a man of the cloth.
“He hated bureaucracy and red tape. He wanted things to happen quickly.
“I never escaped his wrath as the mayor.
“I must say that we have learnt a number of things throughout his life.
“One of them is to be brave, fearless and never succumb to political pressure,” he said.
Wayile said Tengo loved his family, including the community of KwaNdokwenza where he lived.
“He was like a voice of reason in that community.
“We want to say to his family and residents of the area that they must not feel like orphans. They must pick up his spear,” Wayile said.
In May, Tengo put his name forward to contest Nelson Mandela Bay’s ward 20 byelection as an independent candidate.
At the time, he said he had been staying in the area since 1989, fighting for its improvement, which was why he wanted to run for councillor.
Tengo is survived by Xoliswa and six children.