By Sitha Maliwa:
For celebrated businessman and entertainer Mlindelwa “Man B” Tyekana, Father’s Day is not a celebration, but a quiet, aching reminder of absence, of unanswered questions, and of the strength it took to rise beyond them.
Despite his flamboyant public persona and status as a highly respected record label owner and security mogul, Man B carries a deeply personal void: he has never met his biological father.
Raised by a stepfather who gave his all, Man B grew up in a home filled with care, but not without longing.
“I’ve never met my father and I never took it upon myself to look for him. I really didn’t see the need because the love I got from my stepfather was sufficient,” he shares, his voice steady, yet carrying the weight of unspoken moments and childhood wonderings.
He doesn’t speak with bitterness – only honesty. His stepfather, he says, was more than enough. Yet the unanswered questions remain.
“I never really took it upon myself to look for my real father and I didn’t ask about him much. But the man who raised me gave me all the love a father could give a son,” he says with quiet gratitude.
Still, Father’s Day is never easy.
It brings reflection, not regret. Wonder, not resentment. And always, a deep respect for the man who stepped in when another walked away.
Admitting that he’s sometimes curious about how meeting his real father might have changed things – what the man looked like, what traits they might have shared – Man B says he never believed it was his responsibility to go searching. He chose, instead, to fully embrace the love he was given.
“I’ve never met my father,” he says again, as if reminding the world of the wound he’s turned into a wellspring of compassion.
That compassion was evident on Friday at Lumko High School in East London, where Man B gave back to boys who, like him, may be growing up with big questions and even bigger challenges.
There, as part of a Youth Month initiative, he donated toiletries to male students – an act of care born from understanding, not obligation.
“Boy children feel neglected because most of the time, it’s only the girls who receive toiletry gifts and other kinds of affection. We forget that these boys equally come from disadvantaged backgrounds, just like the girls,” he says, visibly moved.
He spoke of how these boys are mocked for smelling bad, sometimes by peers, and shockingly, even by teachers.
“These boys get mocked and told they smell, and they suffer these insults in front of the girls, sometimes from the teachers,” Man B said, his voice hardening with concern.
It’s not just about hygiene, he explained. It’s about dignity. It’s about trauma. And it’s about a growing crisis of young men who feel unseen, unloved, and unheard.
“I speak to social workers, and they’ve confirmed that such behavior leads to boys hating women, hence the rise of GBV. In some cases, it leads to these boys quitting school and resorting to crime, scared that if they go to school, they’ll be mocked for poor hygiene.”
But even as he identifies the problem, Man B refuses to let young men fall into despair or excuse bad behavior.
He is clear-eyed and unapologetic in his message: trauma is not a free pass for cruelty.
“I warn the young boys, however, that poverty and being raised by single mothers give no excuse for crime and women abuse,” he says.
Instead, he calls for kindness. For unity. For courage in the face of shame.
He urges all pupils to look out for one another, to be each other’s strength when the world turns its back.
He urges them to love – because he knows what it’s like to be loved into becoming someone great.
“I urge pupils across the country to unite and assist when another pupil lacks basics like food and toiletries, instead of shaming them.”
Man B’s story isn’t just about growing up fatherless. It’s about choosing grace in the face of pain. It’s about honouring those who show up and becoming the man he needed when he was a boy.
And above all, it’s a reminder that sometimes, the greatest strength is born from what we never had. – @NewsSA_Online
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