Top Billing’s Mhere dies in crash

Police are investigating two cases of culpable homicide after Top Billing presenter Simba Mhere and a friend were killed in a car accident in Johannesburg early on Saturday morning.

JOHANNESBURG — Police are investigating two cases of culpable homicide after Top Billing presenter Simba Mhere and a friend were killed in a car accident in Johannesburg early on Saturday morning.

They were on their way to OR Tambo International Airport and were to attend the J&B Met in Cape Town.

Mhere and Kady-Shay Bryan, the mother of a four-year-old girl, were killed instantly when a VW Polo crashed into the right side of their Mitsubishi.

Simba Mhere SA Style Awards 2013
Simba Mhere SA Style Awards 2013

Johannesburg Metro Police spokesperson Edna Mamonyane said a second woman in the vehicle survived. She was taken to Helen Joseph Hospital and was in a critical condition.

The driver of the Polo was taken to hospital before officers could breathalyse him.

Mamonyane said the Polo driver left the N1 at the William Nicol Drive off-ramp in Sandton when the accident occurred.

Emergency Services spokesperson Nana Radebe said Mhere and O’Bryan suffered multiple fractures and severe head injuries.

Mhere (26) joined the SABC 3 magazine show Top Billing in 2010 after he won a presenter search competition.

The three were booked on an early flight to Cape Town for the horse racing and social event.

Mhere’s manager, Owen Swanson, said: “I don’t want to believe it. I can’t believe. I’m still in so much shock.”

Businesswoman Basetsana Kumalo, a close friend of Mhere’s, was too distraught to comment.

Kumalo could only confirm that she had been told about the accident.

Mhere was born in Zimbabwe. His family moved to Johannesburg when he was a year old.

He matriculated from Rand Park High in Johannesburg and attended the University of Johannesburg, studying towards a BCom accounting degree.

J&B Met organiser Shana-Lee Fouché said Mhere had booked his own flights to get to the event on Saturday.

The mood at the racing event was sombre after news of his death broke.

Presenter and actress Boity Thulo said: “This is incredibly sad. I don’t know what to think or feel. This still hasn’t sunk in.”

— Times Live