Harare gambler attempts suicide

A DEJECTED gambler attempted to commit suicide in the Harare Gardens yesterday in a case that left lovebirds who usually frequent the leafy area subdued and baffled. Nokudakwashe Mationa (25) an Agritex research officer who resides at House No. 5095 64 Crescent Glen View 3 was found writhing  and groaning in pain after downing rat poison at around midday following a long standing dispute with his mother over his gambling behaviour. When reporters confronted the man's mother with the tragic news she said SHE WISHED HE INDEED HAD DIED!
He was rushed to Parirenyatwa Hospital for treatment in what seemed to be a very grave state. Reporters could not establish his condition at the time of going to print. Nokudakwashe was said to have left home after the dispute, leaving his mother in tears.
He was thought to have decided to take his own life after thinking that his mother had committed suicide. "He left our mother crying and I think one of our brothers called him saying that she wanted to kill herself. "Maybe it was out of shame and panic that he decided to commit suicide. But the bottom line is that he left home in a huff after quarrelling with our mother," sobbed Nokudakwashe's sister, Tsitsi.
His mother, Patricia Mationa, had no kind words for the seed research officer-cum-gambler. SHE WISHED HIM DEAD. Letting forth a stream of invective she declared: "It is better that he dies! He is a gambler and I have no mercy for him. He has been giving me hard times since his school days.
"Kuda has been stealing household property here to raise money for gambling at Glen View 3 Shopping Centre. I have tried to counsel him as his mother but all my efforts yielded nothing. "I think this is where he had been dragging me to. LET HIM DIE! I have suffered enough at the hands of this child."
She said that what irked her most was the fact that he was failing to fend for himself and was degenerating into a "monster". Amai Mationa had only venom for her son whom she accused of neglecting the family despite the fact that he was gainfully employed.
"He stole US$100 from his brother, Morgan, to raise money for gambling and to maintain his boziwero (street-lingo for rich person) status in the ghetto. All I want is my money! "I asked him to contribute US$30 each month considering that he earns a paltry salary.
"Today, in the morning he gave me his bank card and I questioned him about its validity. "That is how the misunderstanding erupted. I suspected that he would claim that his bank account had been flush with money when in actual fact he would be trying to dupe me, she added.
Amai Mationa said that she had had a premonition about her son's in a dream. "I saw it in my dream. I dreamt of a glowing sunflower reflecting yellow and red with oil dripping from it. "I once thought of taking a protection order against him at the courts but I desisted after considering that he is my son," she said.
However, this reservation had not deterred her from thrashing the delinquent fellow in one instance.
"I was forced to beat him up as a way of showing him that he was doing the wrong thing. And he never fought back," she said self righteously.
However, Nokudakwashe who is believed to have developed a gambling addiction early during his school days at Mukai High School in Highfield was heard agonizing that his actions had resulted in someone's death. Although he did not mention his mother's name! He most likely tried to take his own life because of this.
"I had a misunderstanding with my mother. My mother always assaults me and I don't have peace at home. "Plus I thought I had killed someone," he was heard saying while being attended to by an ambulance crew at Harare Gardens. His vice has not even yielded any rewards except a lot of heartache and pain!