NEW MAN: Dr Love is now born again and as straight as an arrow… well, in a manner of speaking. Pictures by Tshepo Kekana
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It’s officially the month of love and who better to get up close and personal with than the love doctor himself, Mveleli “Dr Love” Gqwede?
But he ain’t the same eccentric gay guy you might be familiar with. Dr Love is a preacher now and says he has unconditional love only for God. He has also denounced being gay.
We meet at Mugg & Bean at Maponya Mall, Soweto.
He’s dressed in a black suit and black and white shirt with the usual pushback gel do and sandals.
“Molweni, sorry I’m late. I just came from a sermon,” he brags.
I don’t want to laugh. He’s actually serious.
So just who and what is preacher- sangoma-singer Dr Love all about?
“Dr Love comes a long way. I was in the media all the time but that was because of my bad deeds.
“But I came around and soon journalists would find me helping people one way or another. So the paper gave me the name Dr of Love.”
Gqwede’s childhood wasn’t easy.
“I grew up in the Eastern Cape with relatives instead of my mother and father. They (the parents) were not stable and were always fighting. That’s before my father left to start a new family somewhere else.”
As a teen he befriended “a beautiful girl” who later became his wife.
“Because she was so beautiful there was always someone stalking her or chasing after her. So I became her protector. From there on we fell in love, married and had children.”
But the relationship soon turned sour.
“I was a doctor and she became Miss what-what at a very young age. And our lives became ruled by material stuff and money. We never had time for our family or ourselves.”
But what really ended his marriage was his attraction to the same sex, he admits.
“I became interested in men. I went gallivanting with the boys. But eventually you grow up and understand that some things are just not worth it,” he says.
He answers his phone for the umpteenth time and says he will be there as soon as possible.
“That’s my spiritual boss, Prophet Motsweneng.”
He explains: “I was in love for 14 years with a guy in prison and then last year everything just stopped. We stopped communicating and I was no longer interested in males.”
Not that he didn’t enjoy being a homosexual.
“I must say I enjoyed it while I was doing it. But homosexuality is filled with perversion. There is no commitment. One boy can go out with 10 other men...
“Another thing about it is that it’s just over-exaggerated. The thing is most of them have these mixed feelings inside of them that they aren’t sure of.
“And it starts from them not being able to express themselves while still young and doing it now.”
While we chat a stranger walks up to him and thanks him for what he did for him in prison and holds his hand.
Dr Love is not only a medical doctor and preacher. He’s apparently a sangoma too.
“I had a friend who got lost and went to thwasa (the process of becoming a sangoma). One day he called me and said I must come and fetch him ’cos he had nowhere to go but he was done and needed a place to live.
“When I got there his gobela (teacher) told me I needed to become a healer and even my great grandfather agreed to that.
“Then they started playing drums and I started feeling uneasy, felt like vomiting and crying, which is the last thing I remember.
“I decided to stay there and become a sangoma.”
He’s a Christian too.
“I grew up in a Christian family, hence my name. So on December 17 we wanted to ridicule the so-called prophets, exposing them by showing that there is no such thing as miracles. And Prophet Motsweneng was the victim.
“While he was preaching I heard voices that told me I must change.
“So before he left the studio we asked him to pray for us. And things happened – the voices became a reality. I received the Lord Christ that day and I was set free,” he says excitedly.
But to me he’ll always be the eccentric, crazy Dr Love.
Catch Dr Love on Soweto TV on Monday between 0.30am to 2am.
This & that REAL name is Mveleliwamabandla aka Krestu Gqwede – leader of the Christian people – a name given to him by his grandfather. “He dreamt this name while I was being born.”
Has two children – a son and a daughter, whom he loves dearly.
Finished school when he was only 14.
“My mother was a teacher by profession and she was the starter of many schools in the rural areas. I was forced to start schooling earlier than everyone.”
Didn’t want to become a medical doctor while growing up but “because of peer pressure I ended up in medical school”.
Says his new boss is Jesus Christ.
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