Mum dies, dad abandons family, schoolboy hangs self

A SIXTH Form pupil left to take care of his disabled brother after his mother died and father left for South Africa has been found hanged.

Nhanisi Nleya, 18, a boarder at Tennyson Hlabangana High School in Hope Fountain, is thought to have committed suicide by hanging himself at the family home in Waterford suburb last Friday.

He was buried at West Park Cemetery yesterday.

Bulawayo provincial spokesperson Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo said police were not looking for anyone else in connection with his death.

Although schools opened on Tuesday last week, Nhanisi was yet to go to school for unknown reasons.

Sources close to the family said Nhanisi, who lost his mother a few years ago, was frustrated after his father left for South Africa, abandoning him and his disabled elder brother.

Hours before he was found dead, he was reportedly sent by one of the tenants at their shared home to buy pampers for her baby. Sometime after returning from the shops, he hung himself from the roof of his room.

A neighbour said: "Nhanisi was staying with his elder brother who was born disabled. Their mother is late and their father relocated to South Africa years ago, only to come back after his son's death.

"The young man was probably frustrated as he had a burden of taking care of himself and his brother under difficult circumstances. His friends were expecting him at school but they were shocked to learn that he had killed himself."

A friend, who also spoke on condition they were not named, said Nhanisi kept a diary in which he wrote about "strange things", such as stories about dead people and graveyards.

When our news crew visited the family in Waterford yesterday, Nhanisi's father, only identified as Nleya, referred all questions to the police.

Other relatives also declined to be interviewed.