Tendai Charumbira
A 16-year-old girl from Hillside Extension Masvingo who was doing form four at a local high school took her life by consuming a cotton pesticide after an altercation with her mother over artificial nails on Monday (March 14).
Masvingo Provincial Police Spokesperson Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa confirmed the incident and urged people to not resort to taking lives when they have misunderstandings.
“We urge people to handle misunderstandings in amicable ways than taking own lives,” said Dhewa.
Sources close to the family said on the fateful day, the deceased Talent Kudzai Chisvinga had a misunderstanding with her mother at around 1000 hours over artificial nails she had and her mother Mailet Chisvinga (40) told her to remove them.
“She had a misunderstanding with her mother over some household chores and some artificial nails which she was putting on. Her mother went out and told her to remove them before she came back,” said the source.
She left her with her stepfather Joseph Chikandiwa (39) who later asked her to prepare tea for him and instead she went and took the poison.
“She was then asked to prepare tea by her stepfather but instead she went to her mother’s bedroom where she took the cotton pesticide and her stepfather later heard her screaming and he rushed to the bedroom. She was rushed to Runyararo Clinic and later referred to Masvingo Provincial Hospital where she later died,” said the source.
Another source who attended the funeral said her school friends said she had been suicidal and the day before her death she had reportedly told her to say goodbye to their other friend.
“Her friend narrated how she told her to say good bye to their other friend and when quizzed on where she wanted to go, she just brushed away the issue. Another one said on the day she was supposed to go to school in the afternoon she said she wasn’t going after one of her other friends went to pick her,” said the source.
Others claim that she left a note where she wrote that she missed her own father’s love.
Suicide cases have been on a rise in the country of late. Recently A 55-year-old Mashava man, Emmanuel Simango set to appear in court on February 27 2022 to answer to charges of raping a relative recently committed suicide.
