Johannesburg - There were no corn rows, dapper suit or even a hint of that famous inflated ego. Instead, the Jub Jub who faced Fezekile Cwayi was a scared man desperate for forgiveness.
Cwayi saw the rapper at his lowest and now even with him on the outside he still forgives him. A day after his release from prison, Molemo “Jub Jub” Maarohanye has slipped back into his celebrity ways, releasing a song where he asks the nation for forgiveness.
The song has polarised Twitter, between those who see it as crocodile tears and a publicity stunt and those who feel it's time to forgive the terrible tragedy that happened on March 8, 2010, leaving four pupils dead and others seriously maimed.
That new Jub Jub song is 🔥
— Muzi Khanyile (@Dowpey) January 7, 2017
Jub Jub's song is actually nice man
— M U R U N W A ❤ (@Murunwaaa) January 7, 2017
Damn just listened to that Molemo aka Jub Jub song. Too nice. He chose the right person to ft. The Village Pope 😭😭😭😭
— #ImNoHouseHead (@Edd_Everything) January 6, 2017
I don't think I like Jub Jub's new song but I forgive him
— IG: Tumi_XClusive👑 (@Tumi_XClusive) January 6, 2017
Jub Jub's song sucks though👎
— S A V A G E ! (@LeslyTheStoner) January 6, 2017
But Cwayi, who saw the scared Jub Jub without the celebrity swagger and his fine clothes, believes it “comes straight from the heart” – even though one of those killed that day was his son, 17-year-old Mlungisi.
Last November, Cwayi was in a boardroom at Leeuwkop Prison.
He and the family of Frank Mlambo, who was left disabled by the accident, had been called there by the parole board.
It was during this 4-hour-long meeting that Cwayi came face to face with the two men who had killed his son.
Maarohanye and his friend Themba Tshabalala had asked to be allowed to talk to the families.
“Jub Jub was wearing a brown shirt with green pants and he had a cheese-kop haircut. I could see both had been crying and they were scared,” said Cwayi.
Both asked for forgiveness, which Cwayi said he readily accepted. He had already forgiven the two men, years earlier, when he realised that both were under the influence of drugs and were not aware of what they were doing at the time.
On Friday, Cwayi was at his Protea Glen home in Soweto when he learnt that Jub Jub had written a song, titled Ke Kopa Tshwarelo (please forgive me), while in prison. The song appeared online hours after Jub Jub was released on parole and features jazz singer Tsepo Tshola.
undefined“My life was too fast blindfolded by the good life and pressure of my boys I was careless, sniffing coke, riding reckless. I thought that I was impressing, just living life to the fullest,” Jub Jub raps.
Tshepo then sings: “I beg for forgiveness mama. I beg for forgiveness baba. I beg for forgiveness my brother. I beg for forgiveness my sister. I beg for forgiveness my country.”
There is no mention of the victims in that verse but for Cwayi it's okay.
“If he is saying the whole of the country, then he is including us.”
But even though Cwayi has forgiven Maarohanye and Tshabalala, he still finds it hard being without his son.
Within walking distance is Mdlalose Street, where nearly seven years ago Maarohanye and Tshabalala got involved in that afternoon drug-fuelled drag race in two MINI Coopers. Mlungisi and other pupils, said Cwayi, had gathered around and were looking at a cellphone screen when they were hit.
At least once a week, Cwayi has to drive over the bridge on Mdlalose Street, where paramedics on the day had to pick their way between strewn textbooks to get to the dead and injured. “When I drive pass that road, it comes back to me how much I miss my son,” said Cwayi.
On Friday, Jub Jub’s lawyer Rudi Krause said that his client was easing his way back into society after four years in prison. “He has a lot to get used to,” he said.
But Cwayi hopes that Jub Jub will turn the tragedy into something positive. “I will be happy if he teaches other kids about what happened to him,” he said.