OPINION | All of a sudden Jub Jub is a fave? Mxm, y'all play too much!

Since Sunday night, Jub Jub's name has topped the Twitter trends list and I am triggered! I can't believe that all it took for many of y'all to reinstate Jub Jub as the official TV "it" boy was a Cheaters reality show? 

How is it that we want to boycott abusers, women bashers, rapists but a man guilty of culpable homicide is just fine?

We really can't go on pretending that Jub Jub isn't the same guy that went to prison for killing four school children during a drag racing accident. Because he is.

Molemo "Jub Jub" Maarohanye is the guy who was initially sentenced to 25 years for murder and attempted murder, after he and Themba Tshabalala crashed into and killed four high school pupils and seriously injured three others on March 8 2010. This while they were drunk, high and drag racing in a residential area.

In 2014 Jub Jub and Themba's murder convictions were overturned to culpable homicide, which resulted in a reduction of their sentences to 10 years (of which two years were suspended). 

It is not okay that those families have to watch Jub Jub on their TV screens and hear about him everywhere as if his presence isn't a reminder of the absence of four lives and three other lives that have been changed forever because of his recklessness.

I hate to be this person, it's unchristian. I know he did the time. I am also aware that he was "rehabilitated" in prison and was released on parole. I also know that it is "unfair" to compare the Jub Jub of yesteryear to the Jub Jub of today.

I know this personally because I was one of the first journalists to conduct a one-on-one interview with the Ndikhokhele rapper after he was released on parole in January 2018.

Speaking to TshisaLIVE in an exclusive interview at the time, the rapper revealed the source of his strength to soldier on.

I saw how sincere Jub Jub was about what he had done and I believed him when he explained the process of forgiveness he's constantly going through.

"The most important thing is forgiveness, it comes from God. So I forgave myself and God forgave me… It really doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks because that gave me the energy and the ability to move on," Jub Jub said.

I appreciated his willingness to want to do philanthropic things like speaking to the youth. For me, it was the least he could do since his sentence was cut short and the lives he took were gone forever.

But I am of the belief that forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting the crime.

God, the families, the fans, etc and even the man himself can forgive the crime but forgetting is a different story. It's an insult to the lives of the kids whose lives were cut short. 

The industry is small and the doors even smaller. There are a lot of talented people looking for a chance to begin their career as TV presenters and other things in the entertainment industry. Those chances are scarce and the few that are there really can't be given to the likes of Jub Jub. That is not okay and I know I am not the only one who thinks so.

We just won't say out loud, because when we do we are attacked and labelled as broke, bitter people who want to hold Jub Jub's past over his head for the rest of his life, right?

Well, I don't care and, for me, the minute those kids died, Jub Jub and all his talent lost the privilege of being one of the first to be considered for a gig on our TV screens.

He's not entitled to these jobs. Not because he isn't necessarily good but because there are people that are better and his presence is a trigger for those people's families and their sympathisers.

So I'll ask again, how is it that we want to boycott abusers, women bashers, rapists but a convicted murderer is just fine?

There are a lot of talented people (known and unknown) that can host your new fave show. The way I see it, Jub Jub should get an office job somewhere and get bread for his family. Somewhere where his presence will not be a source of pain for others.

Sorry, not sorry!