It’s true, ‘leaders won’t save us’ wrote Riky Rick

As I was sadly scrolling through social media and amazed by how the sudden death and suicide of local rapper Riky Rick affected many, suddenly people were now depression experts, finding possible reasons as to why “King Kotini” suddenly took his own life.

Many speculated that, like many men, he was not vocal about his depression. But to the contrary, Riky Rick, real name Rikhado Makhado, had, over many years, spoken about how he has been suffering with depression.

A video surfaced where he admitted he has “taken pills” and never thought he would live beyond 25. But what stood out to me was a statement that pandemics usually come with economic crisis, which subsequently leads to a rise in suicides or suicide attempts.

Studies have shown that the number of suicides rises during an economic crisis, like the European and American crisis in 2008. A study published in The British Medical Journal found there were 4 884 excess suicides in 2009 following the economic recession the previous year.

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This spike in suicides was mainly by men in 27 European and 18 countries in the Americas, where they were 4.2% and 6.4% higher respectively. In European men, the suicide age was between the ages of 15 to 24 while men in American countries were aged between 45 to 64.

The study attributes the spike in the suicide rate among men to an increase in unemployment, especially countries with an already low level of unemployment.

The British Medical Journal study further states that countries which offer social assistance networks, suicide prevention activities and national suicide prevention programmes, have a more controlled suicide rate at a time when economic insecurity was high. I don’t remember seeing that in SA during the Covid pandemic.

Instead, artists were severely affected and felt neglected by Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa, who allegedly failed to pay social relief funds to artists who could no longer perform or showcase their work due to strict lockdown restrictions.

Our “Master of Energy”, another nickname for Riky Rick, alluded to this in an Instagram post that has resurfaced after his death.

He expressed anger and sadness that as artists, they have been let down by the country’s leaders. He encouraged the youth to be serious about furthering their education and to save money for their families.

“The government is not going to save us. Politics is not going to save us. The leaders we trusted with our lives are not going to save us,” he concluded his Instagram post.

While theories on sociological studies allude that economic crises were thought to weaken social ties and reduce purposefulness, it seems evident in some of our artists, including the late HHP who fell deep into depression due to lack of performances and gigs – which led to his untimely death by suicide in 2018.

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It is sad that we should continue to see a rise in suicide due to the rise of unemployment in our country.

But what is the government going to do? Promise jobs while continuing to post “condolences” on social media? Riky Rick is right – the leaders we trust with our lives are not going to save us.