Silent struggle of hustle culture and how it is affecting young men in SA

It was around midnight when the phone rang. Kabir Jugram’s friend Shacky didn't sound like his usual self. Shacky was sitting alone in his car at a park, and he wanted to end it all. In a vulnerable interview, Kabir confronts Shacky and says: 

“That moment changed me. It changed our friendship. Yet we never talked about it.”

The night of the call, Kabir found himself speeding down the highway, hoping to arrive before Shacky did something he couldn’t undo. 

In South Africa, where youth unemployment sits at about 46%, young men like Shacky and Kabir face crushing pressure to provide for their families while being told they can't show weakness or ask for help. 

Shacky echoes this, stating: “Most men don’t speak about pain. They carry it like a secret. I do the same.”

Shacky grew up in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, a high-density neighbourhood known for high levels of unemployment, violence, and crime. Shacky says he learned early on in his life that emotions were a luxury his family couldn’t afford. 

His parents moved to Malawi in 2019, leaving Shacky to care for his two younger brothers. He says the moment was a reckoning: “We had to understand that hey, we’re literally on our own right now. Like we can’t depend on them.” 

Shacky attempted various businesses, and the pressure continued to mount. The family home faced foreclosure, there was no electricity and Shacky was becoming someone he didn't want to be — borrowing money he couldn't repay, lying to avoid facing reality. 

The night Kabir received the midnight call, he and his friends found Shacky in his car at Da Gama Park, with his mother on speaker phone, quoting Bible verses. 

Shacky sat motionless and unresponsive. 

Through Kabir’s intimate reporting, we hear how that night became a turning point, not just for Shacky, but for their friendship and their understanding of what it means to be vulnerable. DM

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