Cape Town – South African rapper and actress Gigi Lamayne recently announced the sad news of the loss of her varsity friend who allegedly committed suicide.
She said that her friend was a motivational speaker and writer.
Gigi described suicide as “the new pandemic” and “a silent genocide”.
“Woke up to news that one of my university mates took his life last night. A motivational speaker and writer. It doesn’t make sense… The new pandemic is suicide… a silent genocide… lurking in the struggles of the youth. Slowly emerging … the fire is becoming uncontrollable.” she wrote on her Twitter.
Woke up to news that one of my university mates took his life last night . A motivational speaker and writer. It don’t make sense… The new pandemic is suicide… a silent genocide… lurking in the struggles of the youth. Slowly emerging … the fire is becoming uncontrollable.
— #Gedlela (@Gigi_Lamayne) July 13, 2022
The actress said that suicide has been “brewing for the longest time” because it has been “swept under the carpet for longer than it should have been”, TimesLive reported.
“I think a huge issue around it is that people are tiptoeing around the situation, something that’s new to our context as Africans. I do believe we need to start having the conversation around why this is occurring, and what are the pressures the youth are going through,” the report quoted her as saying.
“I didn’t know he was struggling that much because he never showed it. He was always very strong for everyone, including myself. When I heard about it I was shocked, it made me realise everyone is putting up a façade. He put up a façade that he was strong as a male black child, that he was going to do things, but in reality things ended very differently.
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Picture: Twitter/ @Gigi_Lamayne
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Compiled by Olwethu Mpeshe
