The passing of veteran actress Mary Twala left many around South African shocked.
The actress died on Saturday and her death was announced by her son, media personality, Somizi Mhlongo-Motaung.
As fans tweeted messages of condolences to Somizi and said how they would miss Mary, Somizi's husband Mohale Motaung-Mhlongo opened up about his mother in-law's death.
Hours after her death Mohale took to Twitter to express how Somizi was handling the news and asked for Mzansi to please keep their family in their prayers.
"I’ve never seen my husband like this. Please pray for us guys, I really need to be strong for him", he tweeted.
I’ve never seen my Husband like this. 😭😭😭 Please pray for us guys, I really need to be strong for him. 🥺🙏🏽😭
— Mohale Motaung (@mohale_motaung) July 4, 2020
Mohale certainly received some prayers as tweeps replied to his request but there were also users who said there was no need to involve them. In fact, some tweeps went as far as to say that Mary, who was 80, was old enough to pass on.
The insensitive tweets did not go unnoticed by those who hit back defending Mohale.
Mohale's tweet saw him trend all weekend.
See some reactions below:
Mohale and Somizi are human too like the rest of us. Let Mohale deal with this in his own way. If him asking his more 200k followers for prayers is what he feels like asking, please let him be. If you can’t help someone, at least don’t hurt them. Please don’t add salt to injury
— Dimakatso David Mokwena (Phoyisa Bae👮🏾♂️) (@SelfieRunnerZA) July 4, 2020
Wow and more than 1000 people liked this pic.twitter.com/ZWkhieG1EN
— Tishandra♓🔥 (@Yirhakaz) July 5, 2020
We pray for your strength to be there for him. Gotla loka..you both will get through this.
— 🙌FinallyABillionaire🙌 (@SeboDazzled) July 5, 2020
Abuti, yours is a case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. If he didn’t post, your diatribe on he loves him not would resume...Y’all are tiring 🤦🏾♂️. If you can’t help someone, at least don’t hurt them. Please man. We all need prayers. Mohale and Somizi are no different.
— Dimakatso David Mokwena (Phoyisa Bae👮🏾♂️) (@SelfieRunnerZA) July 4, 2020
Why do people like to dictate how other people should grieve their loved one! Also, if you dont agree with his approach,why don't you just swifly move right along. In fact, some people on this app are just toxic and insensitive.
Strength to you and your family bro🕊🕊🕊
— Mr S (@SelloMabelebel1) July 4, 2020
Somizi also took to Instagram to post three videos of himself and his mother.
In one video the "Idols SA" judge is seen preparing oysters for his mother while in another is from his wedding.
A post shared by Somizi(@somizi) on Jul 5, 2020 at 12:40pm PDT
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Somizi (@somizi) on Jul 5, 2020 at 12:47pm PDT
View this post on Instagram
Thank u once again for this day Ma
A post shared by Somizi(@somizi) on Jul 5, 2020 at 12:49pm PDT