The death of Rikhado Muziwendlovu Makhado has sent shockwaves throughout SA. The much-loved musician and style icon, popularly known as Riky Rick, died by suicide in his music studio a week ago. It has since emerged that the 34-year-old had been battling with depression for a while.
In a suicide note written to his wife, which was leaked to a popular Sunday publication, the rapper stated that he had endured severe pain in his life. He also stated that there were voices in his head that had never gone away. The gut-wrenching letter concludes with the statement: “I wish I was stronger, but I’m not.”
Makhado’s death has re-ignited an important discussion around mental health. Importantly, it has opened up discussions about the rate of suicide in SA, specifically by men.
According to the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG), there are at least 23 known cases of suicide in SA every day. Since September 2021, the number of calls that the organisation fields has increased from 600 a day prior to the Covid-19 pandemic to 2,200 presently.
This represents a shocking 40% increase. The organisation also reports that nearly 10 million people in SA are living with depression and that 70% of those who attempt suicide are battling with mental illness.
A study published in the Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health analyses trends in suicide mortality in SA over a 20-year period from 1997 to 2016. The study, which examined 8,573 suicides of people aged 15 years and older, found that rates of suicide were higher for men than for women.
This is corroborated in a study by the World Health Organisation’s Global Health Estimates Suicide Worldwide in 2019 report which found that of the 13,774 suicides reported in SA in 2019, 10,861 were men while 2,912 were women.
These alarming statistics indicate that men in SA are silently battling with depression and other mental illnesses.
According to mental health experts, a major cause of this is the way men are raised. It is argued that while girl children are permitted to be vulnerable and express emotions, boy children are expected to be emotionless, which in turn makes them unable to open up about their vulnerabilities and struggles as adult men.
In addition to this, higher suicide rates among men are seen during economic downturns. A loss of income and unemployment are huge factors driving men to the edge.
The reason that men feel unworthy when they don’t have an income is because the patriarchal system places their worth on money and ability to provide. The same system also deems them lesser men when they are in touch with their emotions.
But this same system is the one that also privileges them over women through the gender pay gap, inequitable access to finance, etc. It is the system that allows them to get away with abusing women – the judicial system that acquits them on rape charges. It is the system of locker-room sexism that they throw around and which endangers the lives of women.
Effectively, men are victims of the same patriarchy they defend when it benefits them. My hope is that men will realise that patriarchy is as much a danger to them as it is to us. Patriarchy de-humanises and de-civilises men in the same way as it does women. In the profound words of late feminist, Bell Hooks: “Patriarchy has no gender”.
• The South African Depression and Anxiety Group can be contacted on 0800 121 314 or send an SMS to 32312 and a counsellor will call you back.
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