The news that South African rapper AKA’s fianceé, Anele “Nelli” Tembe had died during the early hours of Sunday 11 April, shook me.
Upon the first glance at the heading, I thought she had been involved in a car accident. As more details emerged, it came out that she plunged to her death from the 10th floor of the Pepper Club Hotel, in Cape Town. The report was shocking enough until allegations spiralled out that she had tried to commit suicide several times before. Previously just two years ago, she had tried to take her own life in Durban, fortunately, a johnny on the spot had stopped her.
Nellie (21), suffered from depression for many years until she gave up. This is why I’m so adamant that our society NEED to have fully trained professionals. The calibre that could actually offer therapy and psychological services, because counsellors that have trained for three months just won’t cut it. People’s lives are at risk.
When it comes to physical ailments, we go to fully trained doctors to get diagnosed because they are the authorities on physical health. Mental health is just as important.
Depression is like the cancer of the mental health community. If caught early, it can be treated and life can go on as normal. But, if it’s caught at a later stage, it can claim a life regardless of treatment.
Because there’s such an acute interest in mental health at the moment, there’s funding available and anyone who can say “I’m into mental health” is given a platform to speak. Sadly, because mental health is the “new black” that almost everyone suddenly speaks of – even the little informed – sometimes offering advice/mere words with little being done to check if that person is qualified to do such is leading to a lot of misinformation being spread and even worse people being misdiagnosed by non-professionals.
As we mourn Supa Mega’s new bae, let us also remember that about 3.5% of deaths in the world are related to depression and, depression can take about seven and a half years off the average person’s life. We need to take mental health seriously so that we can offer lasting solutions to people whose lives literally depend on it.
