ESTEEMED Gauteng hotel magnate Thabiso Tlelai who died on Sunday in a horrific car crash together with his wife Ayanda Tlelai will be laid to rest in his home town, Maseru on Saturday.

The couple died while travelling to Johannesburg from Durban, where they had visited their 15-year-old son at boarding school.
Mr Tlelai, 56, and his lawyer wife Mrs Tlelai, 54, operated several businesses in property development, mining, tourism and financial services in Gauteng, Free State, the Eastern Cape and Lesotho.

A memorial service of the power couple was held on Friday at its Waterfall Estate home, north of Johannesburg.

Mr Tlelai, a BCom degree graduate from the Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada, was the owner and chief executive officer of Don Suite Hotels for over a decade.
He also served on the boards of South Africa Tourism, the National Empowerment Corporation and Basil Read, among others.

He was also a founder and chairperson of the Tourism Business Council of SA.

His late father, Paleo Tlelai was also a renowned business tycoon in Lesotho.

Mrs Tlelai, a graduate with a law degree from the National University of Lesotho (NUL) was an advocate of the South African High Court and the first black member of Free State Bar in 1996.