Sibusiso gives his sister a pained look.

SIBUSISO: Everyone expects me to be just like him.

ESIHLE: I can’t imagine you turning into our older brother Zukisani. Sibu, you couldn’t just flip some switch in your mind and turn into a terrible person.

SIBUSISO: That’s not how it happened — Zukisani didn’t just change overnight, there were a lot of things that led to make the choices he made.

ESIHLE: That’s how I remember it happening: one day I had an older brother I looked up to, and the next, he was like a stranger we were forced to endure.

Sibusiso becomes defensive.

SIBUSISO: We were young, we couldn’t understand the pressures he faced.

ESIHLE: We weren’t that young, we were 14 when Zukisani came back from university.  I remember how our parents threw him an epic graduation party; it had people talking for months after it happened. Our parents were so proud of him, uBaba even fixed his second car and gave it to Zukisani as a gift. Within months of graduating, he had a good job at Yfm and he was making a good living. He renovated the entire house, even built comfy back rooms for you and him. All these amazing changes made uMama and uBaba very happy. In Zuks’ second year working, he bought a new car and sold the old one, even we were getting extravagant gifts like iPhones and PlayStations. We were extremely happy… 

SIBUSISO: Until we weren’t! Or did you forget that six months after Zuks bought his car, uBaba needed to travel to KZN and borrowed the new car so he could show everyone back home how well his eldest son was doing. And then on his way back from KZN, uBaba was shot and killed in a hijacking. We all struggled after that, uMama struggled most of all. I remember how Zuks handled everything like a pro and gave us peace of mind. I don’t know how we would have got through it all without him. He kept us going and he was the strongest of all of us. 

ESIHLE: What’s so strong about Zukisani quitting his job a year after uBaba passed away? Remember, without warning, he just came home one evening and said he was done being an engineer. Or maybe you’ve blocked out how drastically he changed. He was angry all the time and drank his savings away. And then he joined some gang, and everything went downhill from there. If uMama wasn’t still working as a nurse at the time, we would have suffered financially. As if things weren’t bad enough, Zuks started sneaking in the house at night to steal and sell anything that wasn’t nailed down. Mama had to change the locks to the main house.

SIBUSISO: You just don’t understand how hard it was for him.

ESIHLE: Were you living in a different house? Or did you suddenly develop selective amnesia? Zuks was suddenly wearing expensive clothing and bought an even better car than the one that got repossessed. He would come home on, like, a random Tuesday, and drop a stack of money on the kitchen table, then leave. Honestly, we should have reported him to the police, or had Uncle Duma travel from KZN to talk some sense into him. Our family went from being respected in our community to being hated and feared. Our neighbours stopped talking to us and would whisper whenever we walked by. Zuks had created a notorious reputation for himself in less than a year. Don’t you remember? We lived in fear of something horrible happening to him and all of us.

SIBUSISO: Something bad did happen to him. The police showed up and kicked down our front door looking for Zuks. He was arrested for drug trafficking and dealing drugs.

ESIHLE: He got what he deserved if you ask me.

SIBUSISO: Don’t say that! Zuks was grieving and in a dark place after uBaba died. He had to step up and be the man of the house. He couldn’t handle the pressure of all the responsibility he had to take on. And then he got mixed up with the wrong crowd and he everything went out of control.

ESIHLE: (shocked) How do you know this?

SIBUSISO: Maybe if you went to visit him in prison, he would have told you this. Even Mama heard him out, but you’ve always held a grudge against him.

Esihle is at a loss for words, but before she can gather herself, she’s interrupted when they hear someone call out Sibu’s name. When they look back, they see Thabiso running towards them. She immediately feels annoyed.

ESIHLE: What does he want from you? Thabiso used to sell drugs for our brother back in the day, he also testified against him to get a lighter sentence. I hope he isn’t still trying to recruit you into that stupid gang.

SIBUSISO: Would you relax!

When Thabiso is standing in front of them, Esihle can feel her annoyance radiating from her skin.

THABISO: Sho S’buda, you good?

He holds his fist out to Sibu and they fistbump. Esihle notes that he is sweating and out off breath and his jacket has a large tear on the side. Then Thabiso turns his attention to Esihle, holding out his hand.

THABISO: Hello mamas, you are grown now, neh? You look so beautiful.

ESIHLE: Hello, Bhut’ Thabiso.

She ignores his outstretched hand.

SIBUSISO: Bra Thabz, what’s up?

Sibu is trying to break the awkward moment between Esihle and Thabiso.

THABISO: I wanted to talk to you about something, S’buda. It’s time sensitive.

SIBUSISO: OK, let me get a taxi for Esihle and then we can talk.

Sibusiso doesn’t even give Esihle a chance to protest, he stops the first taxi that comes along, hugs her quickly then walks off with Thabiso. As the taxi drives off, she sees Thabiso handing Sibu something in a black plastic bag and then rushing off. She suddenly has a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. So she says a silent prayer, begging God to keep her brother out of trouble.

Tell us: What do you think Thabiso and Sibu were doing?