On Sunday evening, the founder and conductor of the long-standing choir, Dr Huibrie Verster, announced via video that she had decided it was the end of the road for the Free State-based choir. The choir was established by Verster in August 1987, with 60 members under the auspices of the Performing Arts Centre of the Free State (Pacofs) board. The Pacofs Building would continue to house the choir for over two decades after its establishment, but this partnership came to a mysterious end in the last decade of its existence. Verster bid adieu to the choir’s present and former members as well as patrons like local businessman, Dr Boet Troskie, thanking them for their support and wishing them the best for the future. 

Verster concludes the video by reminding the members past and present that love was the foundation onto which the choir was built. Belgian Johnny Put, who was one of the choir’s main collaborators, and supporters recounted his journey with the choir on Facebook, revealing that he and his wife Chantal were introduced to the choir via Troskie in 1996. Put says he is struggling to reconcile Verster’s decision to cease the choir’s existence because of their success and hopes that she will reconsider the decision and simply appoint someone to succeed her in leading the choir.

The choir’s last performance was at the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast at the Divine Restoration Church in Bloemfontein in mid-March. As has already been reported, internationals from Israel, the United States of America (USA), and France - the majority of whom came to the country to attend the church meet - later tested positive for COVID-19 following the declaration of a state of emergency by President Cyril Ramaphosa, becoming the first set of positive cases in the province. 

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