Strictly’s Motsi and Oti Mabuse’s family tragedy with brother who took his life
Strictly Come Dancing stars judge Motsi and dancer Oti Mabuse suffered an immense family tragedy when their brother took his own life.
Sisters Motsi, 41 and Oti, 32, were left devastated after their half-brother Neo took his own life at the age of 18 while they were growing up in the South African township of Mabopane, near the capital, Pretoria.
Not only did his death leave the whole family distraught, but it also meant the family were shunned by superstitious locals who thought it would bring bad luck to anyone associating with the family.
Speaking to the Mirror about the tragedy previously, Motsi had said: “He killed himself with a poison.
"And because the people of Africa are very religious and superstitious, something bad arose in our neighbourhood.
"With the suicide of Neo, our family was seen as one where there was a negative energy.
“Because of this rumour, no one came to us any more, because it was feared that the bad energy applied to the visitor.”
Neo was the eldest child of their mum Dudu who was born when she was still a teenager. Oti, Motsi and their middle sister Phemelo have a different dad, making Neo their half brother.
When Neo was a baby, Dudu lived with her mother and clergyman father in Kraalhoek, in South Africa’s North West province, until she met young lawyer Peter Mabuse and later became pregnant with Motsi.
They later married, but in the early days were said to be so poor they had to live with an aunt in Mmabatho which was a two-hour drive away.
A year later in 1982, when Phemelo was born, the family moved 150 miles away to the township of Mabopane where they lived in relative comfort.
Their father's legal career went from strength to strength helping to support the family further.
In Motsi's book Chili in the Blood: My Dance Through Life she explains: “Neo had witnessed the rise of my parents.
“He still remembered the cramped life, which for us younger siblings was more of a narrative than a truly experienced reality.”
Their mother also had a good job as a nursery school teacher, so the family could afford a house with “several rooms and a garden”.
When Oti was born in 1990, it was another four years before Nelson Mandela became the country’s first black leader and the savagely racist system was finally dismantled.
Growing up, Motsi remembered the three sisters having to take a local community minibus to their convent school as they weren't allowed on whites-only public transport.
She also previously spoke about township riots and how they always knew when they had broken out and while her parents were not involved in politics, she recalls hiding in her room when police came to ask questions.
“We always knew when riots had broken out because we weren’t allowed to leave the house, even to go to school,” she wrote in her book.
“Then the next day, when I was back on the school bus, I could see it was still burning everywhere and cars had been knocked over.”
When police came to the house and asked her father questions “we children had to disappear into our rooms so we didn’t get anything from the conversations”.
The family believed that for Neo this was all too much.
Motsi said his suicide came shortly after Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990, which marked the beginning of the end for apartheid.
“I think all the changes had overwhelmed him a little bit, everything had seemed difficult to him,” shared Motsi.
“He had gone to a private school, but he had surrounded himself with people you might call ‘false friends.’ It was a tough time for all of us, but especially for my mum."
Watch Oti and Motsi Mabuse’s DNA Journey on Tuesday at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
If you have been affected by this story, you can call the Samaritans on 116 123 or visit www.samaritans.org.
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