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Raymond Jaravaza and Lesley Chikudo, Saturday Chronicle Writers

TREES are a source of life for the invaluable role they play in providing humans with oxygen to breathe, but in Entumbane suburb, some have become a source of sorrow and grief for families of loved ones who use the giant vegetation to prematurely end their lives by hanging. A disturbing trend has been slowly creeping up, exposing the dark side of life and death in Entumbane suburb over the last two months.

Five men, for reasons best known to them, have ended their lives by committing suicide through hanging on trees scattered around the famous Bulawayo suburb, one of the oldest Western townships in the City of Kings.

The latest case of hanging involved a middle-aged man who, almost a fortnight ago, decided that life was too unbearable for him and cut his life short by hanging on a huge tree in an open field, a short walking distance from Entumbane suburb, just after a railway line, in the direction of a power utility substation in Richmond suburb.

His lifeless body, hidden from view by a thick canopy of green leaves and branches, was discovered by a passer-by along a dusty trail who alerted other members of the community before the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) was summoned to the scene.

Crowds of inquisitive onlookers, not too scared to witness the sight of a lifeless body dangling on a rope, started gathering around the tree. But for Entumbane resident Nkosikhona Mlilo, his heart bled at the sight of another life lost on a tree, the life of yet another Entumbane suburb resident.

While the death of the man hanging on the tree was a spectacle for onlookers, for Mlilo, that departed soul was another figure that added to a worrying trend of men committing suicide in his beloved Entumbane suburb.

Mlilo is a middle-aged man who grew up in Entumbane suburb in a humble home around the Nhliziyo shopping centre, and continuous deaths by suicide in the last two months are a cause for concern for him and fellow residents. Yesterday, he took his time to direct Saturday Chronicle to the tree where the latest victim of suicide met his untimely demise.

The huge tree stands in the middle of an open field where residents grow maize in the rainy season, hoping to harvest enough green mealies to eat and get extra to keep and take to the grinding mill for mealie-meal.

“It’s very worrying when we see our brothers committing suicide almost every week. The guy who hanged himself on this tree is the fifth person to commit suicide in the last two months by hanging himself,” said Mlilo. The sight of a lifeless body hanging on a tree is a scary sight for both the old and the young, but in Entumbane suburb, news of a dead body almost weekly amounts to nothing nowadays. Residents are now used to the sight of dead bodies hanging on trees.

“Death is now something that we are no longer afraid of here in Entumbane. Our kids now talk about seeing someone hanging on a tree somewhere in broad daylight because they see it on their phones from pictures captured by adults who attend such scenes or because the children see the bodies hanging on trees on their own,” he said.

By Mlilo’s own count, five men have committed suicide by hanging in Entumbane suburb in the last two months. Residents are demanding that the trees must be cut down.

Local residents’ association committee member  Pastor Descent Tshuma said while the local leadership is worried about the alarming number of suicides by hanging in Entumbane suburb, cutting down every tree that claimed the life of a resident is not the solution.

He attributed the worrisome number of suicides in the suburb to societal pressures that expect men to provide for their families, no matter how difficult the economic situation.

Pastor Tshuma is a Pentecostal church leader in Entumbane suburb as well as being a member of the Entumbane residents’ association committee.

“About five or six community members have committed suicide in the last two months and we are worried. Men are under pressure to provide for their families and when they fail to do so it puts a lot of pressure on them and they end up taking their own lives,” said Pastor Tshuma.

The Entumbane residents’ association has partnered with the local business community to enlist the services of counsellors and do roadshows around the suburbs to talk to men and try to understand the problems they are going through. The counsellors will also offer assistance to men who are open to talking about their problems and find lasting solutions through working hand in hand with the professionals.

“Men carry a lot on their shoulders. I’m privileged to be a pastor and a committee member of the residents’ association so I talk to men who are going through difficult situations and I can tell you that life is not easy out there but I always tell them that suicide is not an option,” said Pastor Tshuma.

Pastor Tshuma said cutting trees where a resident committed suicide is not an option that will eradicate the growing problem in Entumbane.

“At this rate, we should have cut down five or six trees because people hanged themselves on those trees. That is not the solution. We are dealing with a psychological problem that must be addressed by professionals in the mental health profession, leaders of various churches and the community as a whole,” he said.

The man of the cloth cited the latest incident where a middle-aged man committed suicide by hanging on a tree a few metres from Mpopoma High School, another Entumbane resident.

“From what we gathered, he left his wife to stay with another woman and when that relationship didn’t work out and there were rumours of infidelity, he is said to have taken his own life.

“No one will ever know the truth why he decided to kill himself but as community leaders we realise that men are under immense pressure to take care of their families despite the hard economic situation,” he said.

The tree near Mpopoma High School where the latest Entumbane resident committed suicide has been partially stripped of the bark at knee level. Traditionalist Gogo Mbuyani of Pumula Old suburb said unscrupulous traditional healers target trees where people committed suicide for ungodly rituals.

“They strip off the tree bark and mix it with umuthi so that when they get a client who wants his victim to commit suicide, that umuthi is used to quicken the ritual. When a person commits suicide, their spirit hovers around that tree where he or she died so some traditional healers use the bark from that tree for rituals when their client wants a relative or friend dead by hanging,” said Gogo Mbuyani.

Butholezwe Nxumalo, a community member, said the community wants all the trees cut down.

“We are worried as residents of Entumbane about these suicides that are happening. It’s high time we engage our leaders to take action. We also appeal to families or relatives of these people committing suicide to do something about those trees, for example by cutting them down so that other people don’t commit suicide by hanging themselves there as well.

“We can’t expect rains when such incidents of people killing themselves continue like this. We also appeal to churches to come together for prayers so that we get rid of this problem once and for all. Entumbane must not be known as a suburb where residents commit suicide every week,” said Nxumalo.

A concerned Entumbane resident, speaking anonymously, expressed fears about disciplining her children due to the recent surge in suicides.

“As a parent, I’m now hesitant to reprimand my kids because I’m worried that they might take drastic measures and commit suicide. 

“Something needs to be done to address this crisis and ensure our children’s well-being,” she said.

Local Councillor Khalazani Ndlovu could not be reached for a comment on whether it is within the confines of the Bulawayo City Council by-laws to cut down a tree because a resident committed suicide by hanging on it. BCC by-laws, however, stipulate that it is against the law to cut down trees in a public area without authorisation from the municipality.