Cape Town – Mmasechaba Shai, the wife of veteran actor Patrick Shai, has broken her silence and spoken of her grief following the death of her husband.
Mmasechaba took to the podium on Thursday and addressed fellow mourners at her husband’s memorial service at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg.
She reflected on her life with her husband ever since they got married when she was 16.
Shai, 66, died on Saturday, January 22.
Reports indicated that Mmasechaba found him “hanging” in the garage of their house and she untied him to lay him on the floor, after he committed suicide.
“I’m not crying for Patrick right now, I’m crying for my kids. How are they going to recover from this. How? But I know God will be your father. I know God will always be there.
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“This pain is deep, very deep. For my kids, it is deep, for my grandkids it is so deep … he was a father first, he was a husband, he was a caretaker. He carried us. We were not perfect and he was not perfect,” Times Live quoted Mmasechaba as saying.
She also spoke about being a victim of domestic abuse at Shai’s hands, something which the veteran actor advocated against in his work on gender-based violence, The South African said.
“He was a perpetrator like all of you in this place. I was never intimidated by the beautiful women who became the wives of my husband. When he said ‘I am sorry’, he meant it. My kids are hurting because of the country that my husband loved,” the report quoted Mmasechaba as saying.
Meanwhile, Sowetan Live said that the memorial was a celebratory service where people laughed easily and danced as speakers praised the actor for his generosity.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
