‘I couldn’t take it anymore!’ – Wax artist ‘destroys’ Ricky Rick statue

Lungelo Gumede

Cape Town – A Durban-based wax sculptor, Lungelo Gumede, has reportedly destroyed a wax statue he made in honour of the late Rikhado “Ricky Rick” Makhado, worth a value of R60 000, due to alleged “threats” coming from the late rapper’s family.

According to Daily Sun, it was reported that Ricky’s family was not thrilled with the statue being displayed in public so soon, as they were still in deep mourning.

“It is not that I don’t respect Ricky Rick’s family. But they must understand that he was a public figure and somehow, they have no control over him. He was a people’s person. I loved him and millions of people loved him. That’s the sad truth they must accept,” Daily Sun quoted Gumede as saying.

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Gumede subsequently took to Facebook during the week to let eager fans know that he had received a call from Ricky’s family asking him to take the statue out of display and also from his social media platforms.

“I received a call from Ricky’s family to take the Statue out of display and also from my social media platforms, as they feel its too soon to have his wax statue displayed for public. They asked me to give them some time to mourn. They will let me know when the time is right to unveil the statue,” he wrote.

However, according to The Citizen, Gumede has since destroyed the statue due to on-going “threats” coming from the late rapper’s family, accusing him of monetary gain. This was despite the artist claiming that the viewing of the statue was for “free”.

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“It cost me about R60 000 to make the statue. I made it out of love for Riky Rick and art. I felt threatened and I couldn’t take it anymore. So to stop the threats, I decided to destroy the statue. It took me about a week to make it and only a few minutes to destroy it,” Zalebs quoted Gumede as saying.

On the contrary, public relations representative of Ricky’s family, Melanie Ramjee, slammed the Daily Sun report as not “factual”.

“Over the past two weeks Riky’s family have been very supportive of any and all tributes made to and for him,” The Citizen quoted Ramjee as saying.

Ricky committed suicide as a result of a mental health battle, according to TrueLove.

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Compiled by Odwa Shumi

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