Radio 702 broadcaster Xolani Gwala, passed away in the early hours of this morning. After a long battle with cancer, he hangs up his earphones at the age of 44. He leaves behind his wife, Peggy Sue Khumalo and their two children.

South Africans woke up to the tragic news of Gwala's passing and social media has since been flooded with messages of condolence and heartfelt tributes to the veteran radio giant. Back in September of 2017, Gwala was diagnosed with stage-four colon cancer and soon began the journey to tackle it aggressively with treatement. He returned to radio in August of the following year after he had successively gone into remission. In an interview with the SABC, he spoke candidly about his journey and said that, "It's been a crazy year but as I have said before‚ it's going to take me a really long time to understand it. It has been hell, perhaps that's the easiest thing to say."

Fellow radio personalities including Eusebius McKaizer and DJ Fresh as well as several other South Africans have taken to social media to bid Gwala farewell. Here are some of their messages: