‘I take good care of your daughter and provide for my children. Where will I get a cow to pay you when I am unemployed?’
This is the question that will forever haunt the family of a man who decided to commit suicide after he was pressurised to pay the bride price he couldn’t afford to legalise his relationship with his long-time partner and baby mama.
Confirming the case, District 17 Administration Officer in Shakawe Policing Area, Goitsemodimo Molapisi, said the 41-year-old man of Mabudutsa ward in Etsha 6 was found hanging from a tree branch in Etsha 13 reportedly after sneaking out of the house he shared with his girlfriend at night to go and kill himself.
“What was reported to the police is that the man was cohabiting with a 34-year-old woman at Mabudutsa ward in Etsha13 and four children were born out of the relationship. However, on Monday, the woman’s parents called the man to express their concern about how he was seemingly comfortable playing a husband role to their daughter and not showing any commitment in terms of paying bride price and legalising the marriage. They asked him to pay at least one cow, to show commitment,” said Molapisi
“This is said to have really hurt him because he reportedly asked them; ‘I take good care of your daughter and provide for my children. Where will I get a cow when I am unemployed?’
He then went to bed with a heavy heart and occasionally went out in the middle of the night to “relieve” himself.
“Around midnight, he told the girlfriend that he was going to relieve himself once more but when he took longer than before, the woman got worried because she knew that her partner was depressed.
She then looked around the yard to no avail and in panic woke up the neighbours who used torchlight to follow his footsteps and searched in the nearby bush, eventually finding him hanging from a tree branch,” said Molapisi.
He also expressed concern at the rising number of suicide incidents in their policing area, which he said has seemingly gone up soon after the end of state of emergency among unemployed men.
The SOE that started last year April following the outbreak of coronavirus came to an end on October 1st, 2021.
On the 30th of September, when the country was celebrating its 55th independence, a 41-year-old unemployed man of Boyei ward in Gunotsoga village hanged himself in his mud hut after suspecting that his 26-year-old girlfriend was cheating on him.
The two lovers had a misunderstanding on September 29th and he was found dead the next morning.
Two days later, another young man was found hanging from the roof of his hut in Ngambao ward in Seronga village.
The 23-year-old did not leave any suicide note and neither did he show any sign of depression. He was also unemployed.
Tragedy struck again on October 9th when another suicide was reported and this time around of a mentally challenged young man who left his home without giving an explanation and never returned.
A search party was sent out and he was found hanging from a tree, dead.
“We are very concerned about these cases because they involve young men and love affairs. We are talking and trying to get people to seek counselling when they are facing social and financial problems. When you are having problems, talk to someone, try and get help, don’t bottle things up because talking helps,” Molapisi advised.
