Student’s suicide jump a ‘desperate act’

‘At some point she came off building’

The public demise of a 19year-old University of the Witwatersrand student was a “desperate” cry for help.

This is according to The South African Depression and Anxiety Group operation’s director Cassey Chambers. “I think jumping is a very public but desperate measure to end one’s life. We can’t surmise what she was thinking or why she did it, and I think that’s why losing someone to suicide is so much more difficult because of all the unanswered questions.”

Kago Moeng jumped from student accommodation at South Point in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on Saturday.

Before Moeng jumped, she spent several hours on the edge of the six-storey building with several students encouraging her to jump down.

Chambers said mental illness was not taken seriously. “Perhaps if she knew what help was available or someone identified her symptoms and got her help, maybe she would have been able to get help before it was too late.

“More people need to know that there is help available and there is no shame in seeking help.”

Moeng’s cousin Koki Moeng described her as a fun and loving person.

Solani Sibanda, who witnessed the death, lamented that no one at the scene could save her.

“I wish we could have done more. That girl needed only two or three mattresses and she would have been saved.

“I was there for 30 minutes. It was still possible to save her. I think some people got despondent because at some point she came off the building and looked like she was not going to jump.

“The next thing we knew she had jumped from the balcony. She was thrust on the telephone cables that come across the building and her head hit the ground.

“It sounded like a bag of cement had fallen down and the ground shook a bit when she fell.”

Sibanda said the police officer negotiating with the student was shocked.