Mzingwane pupil in school suicide

A FORM Four pupil at Mzingwane High School, Umzingwane District in Matabeleland South allegedly committed suicide by hanging, fearing disciplinary action over alleged theft, an official has confirmed.

Ryan Siziba (16) of Bellevue suburb in Bulawayo hanged himself on the roof trusses of a disused boiler room behind the school hostels using his belt.

His body was found on Wednesday at around 6AM.

Sources said Ryan had allegedly stolen food from other pupil's trunks with a 15-year-old friend from Pumula North in Bulawayo.

"On Tuesday, at around 3PM, the two went into the Form Ones' hostel and stole some food from trunks and returned to their hostels where they ate the food. The boarding master, Mr Mazisi Mpofu received a report from other students to the effect that there had been a theft of food stuffs and the two were implicated as they had been seen earlier in those hostels," said a source at the school.

"Later that evening, at around 9PM, Ryan's friend approached the boarding master and confessed to have committed the crime with him. The boarding master dismissed him, promising to interview each one of them.  After Siziba didn't return to his hostel, a search was conducted the following morning around the school premises. The now deceased was found by Ncube and another pupil (16) hanging from the roof trusses of a disused boiler room behind the school hostels," said the source that preferred anonymity.

The two pupils reported the matter to the school authorities who in turn made a formal report to the police.

The now deceased's parents who had been contacted the previous night about what their son had done and that he had then gone missing, arrived at the school early on Wednesday morning, to search for their son.

Unfortunately they bumped into police officials who had arrived to attend the scene at around 6AM.

"It was sad moment after Siziba's parents had dashed to the school to come and search for their son and had to arrive at the same time with the police who had come to the case of suicide," said the source.

Police took the body to the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) for post-mortem.

Matabeleland South Provincial Education Director (PED) Mr Lifias Masukume expressed shock at the incident.

"I am currently out of the province on work commitments but I can confirm the province received the message about a pupil who committed suicide by hanging at the mentioned school. At the time of departure from the office the police had been informed and the district was yet to submit a detailed report," he said.

Matabeleland South acting police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Joram Sithole, yesterday said investigations into the case of sudden death were in progress.

In August last year, a Form Two pupil at Silveira High School in Bikita allegedly committed suicide after being bullied by a schoolmate.

The body of the 14-year-old was found hanging from a beam of a building at the Roman Catholic-run school.

Some said he committed suicide after being threatened by a fellow pupil who claimed to own a big snake that he intended to use in harming him, in a suspected Satanism threat.

In October 2017, a Grade Six pupil at Mckeurtan Primary School in Bulawayo also allegedly hanged himself from a tree in a bush dividing Nketa 8 and Emganwini at an apostolic sect shrine, quite a distance from his home.

The pupil was a relative to Nomakhwezi Mzaca Nkomo (14), a pupil at Townsend High School who had hanged herself a month earlier at her family home in Sunninghill suburb after her mother ordered her to do her homework before watching South African soapie, Generations: The Legacy, on television.

Again in November last year, an Upper Six pupil from Sizane High School in Bulawayo allegedly tried to commit suicide twice after she was caught cheating in a Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) Biology paper 3 examination.