01 Sep 2021

Big Brother Naija left viewers in a sombre mood signing off the Sunday live eviction show with a touching tribute of Martin Mabutho, who will be buried in Johannesburg, South Africa today.

Mabutho, who was based in Nigeria as MultiChoice’s chief customer officer passed on last week after a short illness in Cape Town, South Africa.

Ending the show, Big Brother Naija season six host, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu described Mabutho as someone who was very dear to them at MultiChoice Nigeria.

Obi-Uchendu said MultiChoice Nigeria had lost a friend and colleague.

The host said they would continue to honour his vision, adding that his absence would be felt across Africa.

Former public relations and publicity executive for Multichoice Botswana, Tshepo Maphanyane, who was still in shock about his demise, said the country had lost a person that all would want in their team.

She said Mabutho’s personality was larger than life.

“Sounds was a brother, a helpful and go-to person in terms of work during my time at Multichoice.”

She said being part of Multichoice marketing team, he pushed for local content on Dstv.

“One of the key projects that I worked with him was the Nokia Face of Africa, which we eventually hosted as a country.

He flew in and we made presentations to the powers that be and I will always be proud of that.

It seemed like a hard sell but Martin assured me that my reasoning was sound and he was certain that it will fall through, and it did evidenced by the tv advert that played forever on Btv,” Maphanyane said.

She said Mabutho played a significant role in representing the brand that Botswana is today, whether through music and maintaining close ties with industry players and collaborative efforts , to personal endeavours.  

It is strange that we are remembering him, never to hear his big voice again.

My heart goes out to Thato and the children. They were his world and one cannot imagine what this new chapter has in store them and the legacy he built,” she said.

Gaborone International Music Concert director, Thapelo Pabalinga said Mabutho was very helpful, thoughtful and a person that one could learn a lot from.

He said Mabutho worked hard to establish good relations between Nigeria and Botswana especially in areas of entertainment.

“He was of great assistance in bringing Nigerian talent to Botswana and was instrumental in bringing Nigerian comedian, Mr Ibu and Flavour of Sawa Sawa fame amongst others.

Martin is the guy who had time for everyone. We were working on many ideas and was my business partner in some ventures that we were trying to establish in Botswana.

It is unfortunate that he passed on while we were yet to try some though having attempted some,” he said.

Pabalinga said Mabutho wanted to introduce some things learnt from Nigeria in Botswana.

He said Mabutho was instrumental in establishment of digitalisation of some platforms.

Most music enthusiasts recalls Sounds, as Mabutho was called, during his Tribal Monks music outfit days as the group was popular with their U Masa Move Original hit song in the 90s.

A press statement from MultiChoice Nigeria chief executive officer John Ugbe describes Mabutho as ‘not just a colleague but a very close friend and most trusted adviser.

He was well-loved by everyone for his energy and hard work, his warmth, good humour and the creativity and positive attitude he always brought to the team. He will be greatly missed’.

Mabutho started his journey with Multichoice in 1999 in Botswana as a customer service supervisor, and in the 2000s, he became brand manager at Mnet and he also led the marketing and sales team for DStv Mobile in the Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2013 Mabutho was appointed MultiChoice’s Nigeria general manager, sales and marketing.ENDS