Mzansi Torn Over Revelations Made By Riky Rick's Family

Should they have been this honest?

By  | Mar 02, 2022, 10:07 AM  | Rikhado "Riky Rick" Makhado  | Drama

Riky Rick
Riky Rick was laid to rest yesterday, with the whole country watching a livestream of his funeral service. But now that the dust has settled, fans feel conflicted on whether it was a good idea for his family to be as open and honest as they were in their eulogies of him. 
His friends and family were present, and they gave moving tributes to honour the magnificent person that he was, and to thank him for being a light in their lives to the very end. While his mother and wife gave beautiful speeches which moved Mzansi to tears, it was his step-father’s speech that got people talking on social media. 

Riky’s stepfather, Kumi Naidoo, spoke up about what an honour it was for him to be Riky’s father. He is grateful that the rapper allowed him to play that role in his life after his biological father died some years back. He also revealed that Riky struggled with addiction. 
“Thank you for sharing your anger and your heartbreak at the injustice and corruption in the country during our last conversation; I wish it did not drive you to such sadness and such depression. Thank you for the courage in dealing with your addictions in a mature, honest and public way, so that others who face similar problems could benefit and learn; and to say that addiction is not a crime, it’s an illness,” he said. 

It seems that many of the rapper’s fans were not aware of his struggle with addiction, as it has sparked a debate online. Controversial poet, Ntsiki Mazwai, went on Twitter to thank the family for being open about his struggle with addiction, so that others would know that they were not alone. 

Read also: [Watch] "Ours Was Deep And Pure Love"

But some fans felt like the family did not need to talk about that. As one said, addiction is not something to be proud of, therefore the family should have kept it hidden. They think it is even worse because it was cocaine, and some feel like giving the topic more airtime is only convincing more youth who looked up to Riky, to start using cocaine to be “more like him”.
However, think about it. It would have been disingenuous for the family to try to hide it. Riky himself spoke about struggling with drug addiction a few years back, and even said he has been to rehab. And he lived his life openly, sharing even his broken parts with the public so everyone could rally together and be kinder to each other. 
Read more