Malawian did not kill self – wife

THE wife of a Malawian man who died in a suspected suicide does not believe her husband took his own life.

Mervis Kandula said her husband Francis, 25, was desperate to go back home to his children and would not have thrown himself under a train.

“I don ’ t believe that he could have killed himself like that. He was desperate to go home but I don ’ t think he would have done something like that. As the family, we strongly suspect that someone could have thrown him into the train,” she said.

Kandula said prior to their displacement from the place they called home in the informal settlement in Chatsworth, her husband was a hard-working man who took care of his wife and two children.

“He came to South Africa last year and he was looking for a better life. He got work at the wholesaler and he sent money to his children in Malawi.

“We didn ’ t expect that he would die in South Africa like this. I just don ’ t know how I will tell our children, especially the three-year-old boy, how their father died,” she said.

She is appealing for help to repatriate his body back to Malawi for burial.

Police in Chatsworth have opened an inquest to determine the cause of death but believe the man committed suicide.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Asmal, also Malawian, said they were agitated after seeing Zimbabweans and Mozambicans who wanted to go to their countries being repatriated.

“We are not happy because our embassy is not doing anything to help us go home. They have been discussing for days and days but the buses to fetch us are not coming.

“The situation in these tents [at the camps] is very bad. We are cold at night and the food is not good.

“When they chased us away we left behind all our things, even money and documents. We have nothing and all we are asking for is to be allowed to go home,” he said.

At least seven people died due to the xenophobic attacks which began in Durban three weeks ago before spreading to other areas, including Gauteng.