ANC CHIEF whip Jackson Mthembu said he’s devastated by his firstborn son’s addiction to nyaope.
On Sunday, a visibly upset Mthembu said he had heard his son had been arrested but did not know what his crime was.
Mthembu was speaking at the funeral of ANC parliamentary caucus chief of staff, Tumisang Bojabotsheha, in Kraaifontein, near Cape Town.
When Tumisang’s father George Bongo spoke about his son, Mthembu cried openly.
Speaking about his son’s cancer, George said: “My son kept quiet about his illness.
“In our culture we teach our children to be strong when they are in pain.
“In our culture we say a man doesn’t cry, but that should end.
“The life of my son could have been saved.”
At that point, Mthembu got up to hug Bongo before taking the microphone.
He told mourners: “Even after doctors told him not to work, Tumisang still came to work.
“I told uBongo earlier that some of us have children to be proud of.
“But I can’t be proud of my first-born, who is in prison as I speak.
“I don’t even know what he has done. At the age of 32, he is addicted to nyaope.”
Mthembu said that he wished Tumisang had been his son. Mourners then expressed sympathy for him.
In 2011, Mthembu opened up about his son’s drug addiction during a radio interview and said he had sent him to several rehabilitation centres without success.
He said his son told him there was no drug he had not tried.