CATEGORY:MAJOR INCIDENT --------------------------- INSIDE GRENADA FRIDAY October 19,2007 (One of the world's biggest reggae stars from the African continent, Lucky Dube, has been shot and killed in South Africa. Lucky has visited the Caribbean and Grenada to put on Reggae shows. The following is the text of an article printed in THE TIMES). Johannesburg police are looking for three men driving a blue VW Polo believed to have been involved in the murder of reggae star Lucky Dube, 43. Dube was shot dead in a botched hijacking in Rosettenville, around 8.20pm on Thursday night, said police spokeswoman Captain Cheryl Engelbrecht. The singer was travelling in a grey Chrysler with his two teenage children at the time. Engelbrecht said Dube had dropped off his son and daughter, aged 15 and 16, when he was attacked. The killers fled the scene, leaving the musician’s car behind. The children were unhurt. "His son was already out of the car. When he saw what was happening, he ran to ask for help." The boy was too traumatised to provide police with any information, she added. Melvin Khumalo from Gallo Records - Dube’s recording company - was not willing to comment on the incident, saying the company was attending to Dube’s family. Lucky Philip Dube was born in Ermelo, east of Johannesburg, on August 3, 1964. After a few failed pregnancy attempts by his mother Sarah, Lucky came into the world, according to an entry on his website, luckydubemusic.com. His mother considered his birth so fortunate that she aptly named him ’Lucky’. Born into a single parent family, times were tough for a black boy born into poverty under the Group Areas Act and the Pass Laws of the time. Lucky’s parents had separated before he was born. His mother was the only breadwinner in the family and was forced to relocate to find work, leaving Lucky and his siblings, Thandi and Patrick, to be cared for by his grandmother. With a father who drank heavily, Lucky was somewhat relieved he did not get to know his father when he was younger as he is certain it would have influenced him and swayed his career. Lucky had only ever been drunk once, as a young boy, after being tricked at a party. So awful was the experience that he swore off alcohol, cigarettes and drugs completely. He began working as a gardener at the age most children enter school. He later joined a school himself. Although a clearly underprivileged child and despite being taught in Afrikaans, Lucky excelled and joined the school choir. He was a natural performer and when the choirmaster walked out of their practice one day, Lucky took over. His popularity amongst his teachers and peers grew dramatically and Lucky was now finding school to be a safe haven in his life, according to his website. Dube went on to become a frontline artist in the reggae genre. He recorded over 20 albums in a career spanning over 20 years. They included Rastas Never Die, Think About The Children, Soul Taker, Trinity and his latest, released in 2006, is called Respect. He won over 20 awards for his music contribution locally and internationally. The Pan Africanist Congress on Friday expressed its "shock and anger" at Dube’s "cold-blooded murder". "It signifies yet again how much criminals disregard human life," said party co-ordinator Modini Maivha. "We pass our condolences to Lucky’s family and the families of other victims of violent crime in the country. We call on the government to empower citizens... by releasing crime statistics regularly. "This will enable us to appreciate the levels of crime and galvanise South Africans to do more to help our under-resourced police force." The African Christian Democratic Party also sent its condolences to Dube’s family and called for the reinstatement of the death penalty. The party’s Western Cape representative Hansie Louw said in a statement: "Will the death penalty not reduce the senseless killings? There is no respect for life."