The suicides of Patrick Shai and Riky Rick within a space of a month has not only left South Africa’s entertainment industry and the nation reeling, but has also brought mental health issues to the fore.
In the wake of these tragedies, radio personality Penny Lebyane has spoken about a programme that has been set up to help celebrities deal with personal challenges.
Speaking to the Sunday World, Lebyane said celebrities in distress could now reach out to the Silapha Programme and open up about the devastating personal challenges that spark suicidal thoughts.
Lebyane said Silapha (which means “we are here”) is a wellness intervention programme under the umbrella of the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture aimed at helping alleviate the challenges faced by the entertainment sector.
The programme is geared towards creating platforms to discuss and assist artists and athletes with emotional, physical, psychological and mental wellbeing.
“The industry is way too fast and it needs someone that can handle it.
By that I mean someone who doesn’t forget who they really are outside the fast-paced life of jumping from gig to gig, spending most of your day in front of the cameras and the alcohol found at tables when called for a performance.
“We do not mention these things as a trigger to a mental health crisis … because everyone else assumes this is good life. Sometimes even artists themselves end up thinking this is the life they are meant for.
“We pressurise ourselves to fit in, but where exactly are we trying to fit in? Who sets the record that every celebrity needs flashy cars, live in a mansion or acquire the latest and expensive clothes?
“We sometimes focus so much on these things that we forget the actual people who supported us from the beginning and our fans come back saying we don’t support home. It’s all pressure.
That is why we need to remember to drink water, to dress normal, to go on a jog and visit our original hometowns or villages to connect to our own people.
The industry is not for an everyday life,” said the presenter.
The World Health Organisation last year released its 2019 worldwide suicide statistics, which showed that men were four times more likely to commit suicide than women.
“This challenge is not only faced by the celebrities we see on our screens.
I would love to highlight that. Producers, directors, managers and everyone in the industry is just going through a lot because the pressures are real.
The pressure to release, to stay relevant, and since it’s a luxurious industry, everyone in it is expected to drive the latest cars and whatsoever – this industry needs dedication, but it also needs you to stay true to yourself.”
In 2018, hip hop star HHP, real name Jabulani Tsambo, committed suicide.
Reacting to Riky Rick’s death, HHP’s widow, Lerato Sengadi, called on men to speak out and not to bottle up things inside.
“No one wakes up and chooses randomly [to] say ‘I’m going to take my life.’
That’s not how it works. People who suffer from any form of mental illness choose to live or fight to live every day, and that’s brave because it’s not something completely easy to live with,” she said during a moving tribute to Riky Rick.
“I think the important thing is that we start insisting that men must seek help, that men go to therapy, that they do the necessary pain to avoid the pain that they themselves are going through and the pain they will leave behind when they say they ‘can’t’ anymore,” she said.
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