Lucky Dube, 43, a reggae star who launched his career with criticism of South Africa’s former apartheid government, was shot to death in an apparent carjacking attempt, police and his website said Friday.
The singer was shot Thursday night after two men approached his car in the southern Rosettenville suburb of Johannesburg, police spokesman Eugene Opperman said.
The Star newspaper in South Africa said Dube was shot after dropping off his teenage son and daughter at the gate of his brother’s house. The newspaper, quoting an unidentified witness, said the wounded musician drove away and hit a car, lost control and crashed into a tree. Opperman said police were searching for three suspects, although only two men approached the car.
Dube, one of South Africa’s best-known singers, recorded more than 20 albums in a career spanning more than two decades. His seminal song “Come Together as One” was his vision for unity in the new South Africa. He toured the world, sharing the stage with such artists as Michael Jackson, Ziggy Marley, Celine Dion, Sinead O’Connor and Sting.
President Thabo Mbeki praised him as “an outstanding South African” and said the nation needed to “act together as a people to confront this terrible scourge of crime.”
