EFF wants to declare suicide an enemy of the people
The party wants the death of Jackson Mthembu's daughter to prompt greater action and concern from society.
EFF members are seen outside the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria where Julius Malema applied to the High Court to declare the ‘apartheid law’ on the Riotous Assemblies Act illegal in post-apartheid South Africa, 20 September 2018, Pretoria. Picture: Jacques Nelles
In a brief statement on Wednesday, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) extended their condolences to senior ANC member Jackson Mthembu after he revealed his daughter Khwezi had committed suicide.
Mthembu has suffered much family tragedy, as he has also been open about his drug-addicted son being imprisoned.
Khwezi Mthembu committed suicide last night at her family’s Pelican parliamentary village home in Cape Town, according to her father.
He added that the family was “in deep pain”.
“We don’t know what led her to take her own life at such a tender age of 25 years,” Mthembu said.
Many South Africans immediately took to Twitter to offer their heartfelt condolences.
“After the sitting of the National Assembly late last night, as comrade Mthembu was on his way home, he received a call from one of his daughters who informed him of a tragedy that had occurred at home,” an official statement said this morning.
“Upon arrival at his parliamentary village home in Pelican Park, Cape Town, he was confronted by a very painful sight of his daughter, Khwezi Mthembu, 25, who had by all indications taken her own life in her room.
“This is a very traumatic and painful experience for the family and we ask South Africans to keep us in their prayers during this difficult time.
In their statement, the EFF also shared their condolences, but went a step further, saying that “society must begin to declare suicide as an enemy of the people”.
They wanted answers on the conditions that make suicide possible, and that it needed to be tackled as collective concern by the whole of society.
The EFF Sends Condolences To The Mthembu Family. pic.twitter.com/DK9c3g5bxN
— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) March 20, 2019
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