For many people, a cancer diagnosis, the demands of motherhood and the breakdown of a marriage would be enough to push them to the edge. But when Tebele Makhetha found herself facing some of life’s most difficult battles, she made a deliberate decision: she chose life.
That decision is at the heart of her debut memoir, I Choose Life, which will be launched on Thursday, October 8 at Exclusive Books, Sandton City.
An attorney and senior corporate affairs executive, Makhetha draws the title from Deuteronomy 30:19, which speaks about the choice between life and death and concludes with the instruction: “Therefore choose life.”
For Makhetha, those words became an anchor as she navigated cancer, divorce, motherhood and the painful realisation that life was no longer unfolding according to plan.
At the centre of her decision to choose life was her daughter, who was just nine months old when Makhetha received her first diagnosis of stage 2 cancer.
After treatment, she spent several years in remission and believed the disease was under control.
“A mother who trusted God in everything. That is the legacy that I want my daughter to have,” she told Gateway News.
That desire initially inspired the book. More than documenting her battle with cancer, Makhetha wanted to leave her daughter something that would tell her who her mother was, what she believed and how she responded when life became difficult.
“This is more than just another cancer story; it is a legacy I want to leave for my daughter,” she said.
Although she had grown up in church, Makhetha said her experiences challenged her to move beyond simply knowing about God through religion and upbringing towards knowing Him personally.
Her carefully constructed life had already begun changing before her cancer progressed.
Her divorce was finalised in 2023. At the time, she believed her cancer was under control after years in remission. A subsequent stage 4 diagnosis brought another profound disruption.
“As a mom, you start asking yourself so many questions about the future of your child,” she said. “Who will take care of her? How do I want her to remember me?”
Writing had long been part of Makhetha’s life. A self-described bookworm, she had often been encouraged — particularly by her father — to write a book. But it was after a friend told her she believed the Holy Spirit was prompting her to write that the idea began taking shape.
What started as a personal legacy for her daughter developed into a broader exploration of identity, motherhood, ambition, career, faith and what happens when carefully made plans fall apart.
“My friends and I are all in our 40s and high-performing executive women in our respective fields,” she said. “So I thought, actually, this has a wider reach. Let’s see if it is something we can publish.”
Choosing surrender
Central to Makhetha’s journey has been learning to surrender to God, even when she could not understand why so much of what she had planned was unravelling.
Rather than simply asking why difficult things were happening, she began asking deeper questions about God, faith and what it truly means to choose life when confronted by some of life’s hardest blows.
Her experiences have also changed her understanding of success.
Instead of measuring life by accomplishments, she now asks: “How have I shown up as the best version of myself and the best version of a Christ-like being, and how am I present for those who are around me?”
Community has also played an important role. Friends, mentors and loved ones continued to support her through some of her most difficult seasons.
Two of those mentors, both of whom appear in the memoir have played meaningful roles in Makhetha’s journey. Business leaders Bonang Mohale and Busisiwe Mavuso, who feature in the memoir, will take part in the book launch. Not only has Mohale written the foreword, but he is one of her mentors in her journey.
With October marking Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the release of I Choose Life is timely, but Makhetha’s story reaches beyond cancer.
At its heart, the memoir explores motherhood, faith, ambition, loss, identity and learning to live fully when certainty has been stripped away.
For Makhetha, choosing life does not mean denying pain or pretending everything has gone according to plan. It means trusting God in the valley, being present for those around her and finding meaning in a life that looks very different from the one she once imagined.
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