The bane of suicide

The good rains have, without doubt, brought joy to many Zimbabwean farmers scattered across the country.

FOR communal villagers living in the southern parts of Buhera and across the Save River in Marange, Manicaland province, this agricultural season is one of the most promising in decades. After successive years of drought and food shortages, prospects of a rare bumper harvest naturally brought with them joy, anxiety and hope.

But the disturbing trend of suicides involving teenagers and young adults has been dampening the villagers’ spirits and has become a cause of great concern.

Recently and within a space of two months, Denford Chiwara and Daison Chawira, both of Mazwi village in Buhera, killed themselves in cases that left elders scratching their heads.

The deceased were both in their late 20s.

Chiwara hanged himself after a family feud.

Chawira drank poison after a dispute with a neighbour over firewood.

Barely three months earlier, Benjamin Musagwiza, of Chikuku village in Marange, deliberately ended his life after he hanged himself, leaving behind a note in which he said he was ending his life because he was fed up with life.

Despite the fact that his younger brother killed himself several months ago, Taurai Chiwara, brother to the late Denford, is still puzzled by the suicide.

“I don’t know why he hanged himself. It was a minor misunderstanding and the issues were very trivial. An evil tide is sweeping across our villages,” Chiwara said.

A background check of the deceased revealed that both had at one time panned for diamonds in the Chiadzwa diamond fields. When they returned, they started abusing drugs and were of a violent disposition.

“The late Daison at one time was rumoured to have sold a single gem for as much as $80 000. We do not know how true that is but what we know is that he did not buy much from the alleged rich pickings. When the diamonds fields were sealed off, he came back but he was never the same,” Chiwara said. He said the late Chawira was withdrawn and often picked up fights.

Nevison Chapeyama, who spoke with Chawira a day before he ended his life, said the deceased appeared confused.

“He came to me and said some people used him and was clearly bitter about it. The issue at hand involved firewood and some of the neighbours had refused to pay for the firewood they had contracted him to pile-up. I didn’t know he would go to an extent of killing himself over firewood,” Chapeyama said.

Sociologists say those that end up committing suicide often feel misunderstood, helpless, hopeless and full of hate. They often kill themselves out of despair.

Suicide tendencies can also be attributed to mental disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder, alcoholism and drug abuse.

Financial difficulties, inter-personal relationships and other undesirable situations may also play a significant role.

Apart from the three recent suicides, villagers living in areas surrounding the Chiadzwa diamond fields both in Buhera and Marange, maintain that since the sealing off of the fields, there has been an increase in the number of suicides among the youths, the majority of whom were former panners.

Muggings and theft, which were unheard of before the diamond rush, are now common.

Robbers, commonly known as “magombiro” in these areas, often pounce on visitors in broad daylight.

Commenting on the effects of loss of livelihoods, Professor Claude Mararike, a lecturer in Rural Development and Indigenous Knowledge at the University of Zimbabwe, is on record saying job losses often birth negative social and economic consequences. Some affected workers, he noted, might resign to fate and lose interest in life, resulting in them not taking care of themselves and their families.

“If a breadwinner loses a job, that person loses the ability to look after him/herself and the family. That person’s status in society is reduced from wealth to poverty and that person becomes a burden to relatives, friends and society, “ccording to Prof Mararike.