Thenjiwe Moseley’s heartbreak after losing her brother: ‘I feel like a piece of me has been removed’

Comedian and actress Thenjiwe Moseley has opened up about the heartbreak of losing her brother. 

Thenjiwe shared on Instagram that her brother died last week and was buried on Thursday. 

The actress, who is in the UK, was not able to bury her brother and said she felt like she had “failed” him. 

“I am struggling to cope. The pain is too much, I feel like a piece of me has been removed. Last Friday, I lost my brother and he was laid to rest yesterday. When our mother was called to be with the Lord, all my siblings were in primary school (10-year gap between me and my immediate sister) so as a big sister I had to take over and be the mother with the help of our maternal grandmother, uMadlamini (there are four of us altogether - me, sister and two brothers),” she wrote. 

Thenjiwe said the death felt like she lost her own child and the most painful thing was not being able to come home for his burial. 

“I am in England and SA is on the red list of countries which means when I return I would have to stay in a quarantined hotel for 10 days at a cost of £1,750 (about R34,425) x two if I travel with my son. I had to make the hard decision to prioritise him getting a decent send-off rather than me travelling home,” she said.

She said although the death was heartbreaking she was happy her late grandmother was not alive to bury her grandson. 

“I wish my grandmother was still alive so she could comfort me but at the same time I am happy she did not have to feel the pain of burying her daughter’s son,” she said. 

“She lived with the pain of losing my mother (her first-born daughter) for the rest of her life. My mother died in a car accident but my grandmother asked herself every day what she could have done to stop the accident.

“Gogo felt guilty, she felt like a failure. My brother died because a lung collapsed and I feel so guilty, I feel like I failed him.

“I keep asking myself what I have done wrong to deserve this much pain. I do my best to do right by others and to support where I can. I wish I had been given the option to give him my own lung. To everyone who has ever lost a sibling, duduzekani (be comforted), now I know the pain. It’s a deep pain.”