[1] The group were beginning to create a name for themselves after touring with LBM in the United Kingdom in 2001, but disbanded after Nellie Shabalala was shot and killed by a masked gunman, initially for unknown reasons, in May 2002.
[2] In October 2001, Joseph Shabalala brought his wife's group, Women of Mambazo (WOM) to the UK to support LBM in their thirty-date tour of the country.
After both Mambazo groups returned home to South Africa, Joseph organised the recording of WOM's first album.
Tributes immediately began pouring in for Nellie from a wide cross-section of fans, friends, and fellow musicians from around the world.
[3] A major, high-profile trial followed, in which Joseph's son (Nellie's stepson) Nkosinathi Vivian was accused of hiring a hitman to kill his stepmother.