Suicides rise among Phikwe women

Mpho Mokwape | Wednesday December 2, 2015 15:11

The town’s station commander, Victor Nlebesi, said police were yet to establish the reasons behind the troubling upsurge this year.

In the latest incident, the woman from Phase 2, in her late 50s disappeared last Tuesday, only for her lifeless body to be discovered hanging from a tree in the bush near the village. “She did not leave a suicide note and investigations are ongoing into the causes behind the suicide. We cannot speculate on the causes at this point,” he said. Nlebesi said the copper and nickel-mining town had never had problems with suicides among women, but this had changed this year.

“We never had cases of suicide among women but this is slowly changing. Though their numbers are not more than those of men, it is worrisome. There might be something behind this which we need to get to the bottom of,” Nlebesi said.  Meanwhile, Mogoditshane police officers are investigating two separate incidents of suicides both recorded in the Metsimotlhabe area.

Station Commander, Nkwebi Chilisa, confirmed the incidents saying both the deceased were men residing in Metsimotlhabe and that both incidents are suspected to have happened over the weekend, as one was reported early Monday morning. He explained that one man aged 32 years was a permanent Metsimotlhabe resident while the other, suspected to be aged between 30 and 33, was from Molepolole but had been renting in the village for a while.  “Both incidents happened in Metsimotlhabe though one was on the outskirts just a few kilometers from the village. The man was found by a passerby in the bush hanging from a tree while the other hung himself from his rented house,” he said. Chilisa said in both incidents no suicide notes were left and the police are still trying to establish what could have happened.  He said at the moment they are treating the cases as  suicides and while investigations are still ongoing, no foul play is suspected.  “We have not released the names of the deceased as other family members are yet to be notified. At the moment both deceased are at the hospital awaiting postmortems,” he said.