Exclusive: My son’s last moments – Nazizi breaks her silence
By John Muchiri and Sinda MatikoSince the loss of her three year-old son on Christmas Day, music icon Nazizi Hirji hasn’t been at her best.
There has been a lot of speculation on circumstances that led to her son’s death, something that has been bothering Naz.
Recently, fans were anxious about her wellbeing after her worrying social media posts. Nazizi speaks exclusively to JOHN MUCHIRI and SINDA MATIKO, setting the record straight on how Jazeel Adam met his death.
There have been a lot of speculations about how Jazeel Tanaka died…
The pain of losing my child has only been made worse by conspiracy theories being thrown around it. Bloggers have been peddling wrong information that’s hurting my family. There’s a blogger who started spreading rumours about the accident without verifying any information and that’s wrong.
How did it happen?
On the fateful day, I had gone to meet my cousin, Jaffarai, a popular musician in Tanzania. I was still with Jaffarai when the call came. I was told to go to the hospital because there had been an accident involving my son. He was with his dad and I couldn’t understand why I was being told there was an accident. We rushed to the hospital, but it was too late by the time we got there.
Reports were that your husband Tanaka Adam was on phone when Jazeel fell off the balcony?
I had left my husband to bond with our son as I went to meet some of my relatives in Dar es Salaam. We had just dropped my father, who was also on the holiday trip, in the Kigamboni area to meet some of our other relatives. My dad has been in and out of hospital in the recent past, and wanted to check up on his relatives in Tanzania; that’s one of the reasons for the trip. Bloggers say my husband was on the phone when the accident happened, but that’s not true. The hotel room was spacious and he allowed our son to move around freely, just boys being boys, you know. There’s no way he would have expected such an accident to happen and he is even more traumatised. What had started as a lovely family road trip ended up in pain and tears.
Word is that you drove back with the body?
It was easier for us to drive back to Kenya since flying the body was a time consuming process. Three months later, my family is still mourning. I have never recovered from losing my younger brother Feroz, who died over 15 years ago. And now this! But I hope to be back on my feet soon. I don’t know when, but only time will tell.
When your brother died you were on tour in Germany with Wyre as Necessary Noize, right?
After his death, Wyre and I had to cancel our Germany tour. Since the Islamic burial customs were followed, Feroze was buried a day before I landed back in Nairobi. I only got to visit the gravesite at the Kariokor Muslim Cemetery. He had also started recording music, which has never been released.
This interview was first published on Sunday Nation’s Buzz.