INQUEST INTO FASSIE DEATH

JOHANNESBURG - An inquest has been launched into the death of Brenda Fassie
after evidence that the crack cocaine she used was laced with rat poison,
the Sunday Times reported.

Preliminary postmortem results show the singer died of a drug overdose, but
the newspaper said Peter Snyman, Fassie's manager, had evidence of the
drugs having been tampered with.

In a statement yesterday, however, Snyman denied saying Fassie had taken
drugs the night before she was taken to hospital, or that the drugs had
been tampered with.

"What we did discuss (with Sunday Times reporters) was that drug dealers
sometimes used the types of techniques described in the (newspaper) piece,"
said Snyman. Drug dealers are known to add harmful substances to their
merchandise to increase their bulk, and the dealers' profit.

Snyman and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, a friend of Fassie, reportedly wanted
police to question a young woman - not her lover, Gloria Chaka - who
visited Fassie at her home in Sandton on April 25.

The next morning Fassie had an asthma attack and was rushed to the
Sunninghill Clinic in Johannesburg.

Fassie lapsed into a coma from which she never recovered, and died on May 9
after her life support machines were turned off.

Snyman denied discussing with Madikizela- Mandela the matter of the police
questioning anybody.

"What I did say was we would like to speak to the person who was with her
the night before she died, to shed some light on what happened."

A drug dealer visited Fassie - who had been in drug rehabilitation clinics
30 times - while she was in hospital, the newspaper said.

Professor Hendrik Scholtz, the pathologist who conducted the postmortem on
Fassie, said his final results would be forwarded to the inquest magistrate
within two weeks, the Sunday Times reported.

Snyman said he had not seen any postmortem report. "To the best of my
knowledge, no one, not even the family, has seen the report."

l A funeral service for Fassie was held at the Langa Stadium near Cape Town
on Saturday.

President Thabo Mbeki addressed the mourners, saying South Africans had a
responsibility to help those addicted to drugs.

Nine people were injured when the crowd surged into the VIP area where
Fassie's body lay in a gold-coloured coffin. - Sapa