Farewell to Pastor ”Dancing Shoes” Mathoho

It was an emotional affair when members of the Together in Love Christian Church, the Mathoho family and the community of Tshiombo paid their last respects to the late Pastor Nndweleni Nelson Mathoho.

Mathoho, better known as 'Dancing Shoes', was laid to rest at the Mianzwi cemetery last Saturday.

Mathoho, founder and leader of the Together in Love Christian Church, passed away in the Donald Frazer Hospital on the evening of 2 April, hardly an hour after he rendered a sermon at one of the daily prayer sessions held in preparation for the funeral service of the late Sylvia Nndwakhulu.

According to his son, Justice Mathoho, Pastor Mathoho fell and collapsed near the main gate of Nndwakhulu's yard, barely five minutes after he had finished rendering the sermon.
During his memorial service, which was held at his church at Tshiombo village on Friday, speakers described Mathoho as a God-fearing man who always preached about love in his church.

Pastor Mathoho was born in June 1962 at the Donald Frazer Hospital. After passing matric at Mphaphuli High, he taught at Lunangwe Secondary School, in Matangari, as a private educator, before he joined Correctional Services as a warder at Thohoyandou Central Prison.

When he was still young, he was a keen soccer player and played for teams such as Green Hornet, Tshiombo XI Securitas and Khubvi Peace Makers.

During these years he earned the nickname of "Dancing Shoes", which was given to him by Moses Musetha, who admired his dancing skills and compared him to the late Blackpool player, Shoes Moshoeu, who later became a Kaizer Chiefs legend.

His started his church in June 2006 and left his job as a warder in 2015 because of illness that had been troubling him for some years.

He is survived by his wife, Grace, children, grandchildren, his mother, sisters and two brothers.