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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
A 73-year-old visually impaired man from Mabale in Hwange allegedly committed suicide by hanging at his homestead in the presence of a three-year-old grandchild after allegedly being abused by family members.

Elias Ncube of Ndajila Village under Chief Nelukoba had been left in the custody of some minor children when his wife Mrs Cecilia Ncube went to Lupote about 10km away where the community is doing a bread making project.

Ncube allegedly sent the children to fetch water from a nearby borehole and remained with the three-year-old whom he reportedly also later sent to a nearby homestead to bid farewell to his sister.

Ncube’s body was found hanging behind his bedroom hut.

Matabeleland North police spokesperson Chief Inspector confirmed the incident which occurred on Sunday afternoon.

“On 26 April Elias Ncube’s wife Mrs Cecilia Ncube aged 67 left home at around 9AM going to a cooperative where villagers bake bread in the area. She left the now deceased seated in the yard and returned around 2PM and she found her husband hanging with a rope on a tree behind their bedroom hut,” said Chief Insp Makonese.

She said there was no suicide note at the scene and no foul play was suspected hence Hwange provincial magistrate Mrs Sheila Nazombe waived postmortem.

Chief Nelukoba said there were claims that the man had been abused by some family members.

He said he will summon his subjects after lockdown to talk about the issue.

“From the report I got it looks like he was subjected to some form of domestic violence but didn’t get anyone to counsel him.

“We tried to talk about the issue but we couldn’t find exactly who could have been abusing him in the family although villagers are convinced something had been happening,” he said.

The chief said the man was buried on Monday afternoon and I addressed people about the issue of domestic violence.

“I knew him from our childhood days as we used to herd cattle together before he lost his sight. On Sunday he was with some children and sent them to fetch water.

“He remained with one of them whom he sent to fetch a knife for him.

“He used the knife to cut a rope from a line that was tied from his hut to the toilet. He followed the line whenever he wanted to visit the toilet without being accompanied by anyone. He used the rope to hang himself on a tree behind the hut.

“Before that he sent the little child to bid farewell to his sister at a nearby homestead and the sister found him already dead,” added the Chief Nelukoba. — @ncubeleon