Zanu-PF stalwart's son commits suicide

A FORM Three pupil at Mpopoma High School, son to Bulawayo's Zanu-PF provincial secretary for information and publicity, allegedly committed suicide by hanging on Tuesday morning.

Christopher Sibanda's son Eddie, was found hanging from a tree at his family's residence in Njube suburb. It could not be immediately established what led him to take his life.

A Chronicle news crew visited the family's home and spoke to Sibanda who described the incident as a disgrace.

"What will I benefit if you publicise this? Nothing except embarrassment! Lihlazo leli (It's a disgrace). Everyone knows about it. If you wait for the funeral service you'll see scores of people gathering here," said Sibanda.

"So many people have come to pay their condolences. Many war veterans have come to console me. Already people know about ihlazo leli. Why do you want to publish this? How come so many people commit suicide here but we don't read about them?" quizzed Sibanda.

He said the incident will crush his spirit if it gets published.

"There are a lot of things troubling me. They're people bothering me and this has crushed me. If you publish it, it will cause me further pain. You can get the report from the police who were here and did their investigation leading to a logical conclusion of the incident. They're the ones who took the body," he said.

Sibanda said if the news crew wanted finer details about the event, they were free to cover the burial.

He did not disclose when his son would be laid to rest.

A Njube resident said people in the suburb were shocked to learn of the teenager's death.

"We were shocked to hear that Eddie hanged himself. At his age what could have troubled him to the point of taking his own life?" asked a resident.

A comment could not be obtained from Bulawayo acting police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Abednico Ncube.