SUICIDE NOT DRIVEN BY FOOLISHNESS

Sir,

Even though I had not listened to the radio programme “Likhaya Nekwakhiwa Kwalo” for years until about over a month ago, I do know that this is one radio programme that has inspired and given direction to many, both the married and unmarried as it touches on serious and practical issues on matrimony.

I have no doubt that Reverend JV Mazibuko, the regular programme guest and one of the highly respected leaders and statesmen of our modern Swaziland, has saved many a marriage.

We will therefore forever be looking up to such great teachers for the spiritual and wellbeing not only of the Christians but for all.
I normally don’t listen to the local SBIS radio save for the daily 6 O’clock boring government news while I usually wait unabatedly for the weather report at the end of the bulletin and off I’m gone. It is for this reason that I have not been following this particular show aired after 7pm on Sundays on marriages and home making issues.

On that particular Sunday evening when I did listen, the reverend was addressing the worst of our social scourges in Swaziland, which is domestic violence and suicide occurrences, all coming timely when the problem has escalated to unacceptable level, yet I was quite appalled by the misleading utterances by the reverend that will by all means make the work of professional counsellors all the harder, and I know why the reverend erred on that evening; he had used the wrong passage of scripture to address the issue of love.

To err is human isn’t it? Everybody errs at some point and if you asked me how many times have I erred, only to later try and bring myself to correction with my tail well tucked between my legs I would tell you it has been countless times.

I always have the perception that on the subject of intimacy induced violence Swaziland ranks badly and we are probably the worst on the African continent, something that needs to be urgently addressed and the reverend must be commended on the effort, only if he had spent a little more time on his research rather than suggesting that those who commit such crimes are driven by lust and not love, and that those who attempt to commit suicide are driven by foolishness.

May I humbly bring correction to the damaging latter notion and tell anyone hurting that they have contemplated committing suicide that they are not foolish but need help.
Proper counselling would help a young person to bolster their self- esteem and learn to apply appropriate anger and heartbreak management.

As for the damage caused to a young person being told that they have acted irrationally because they are foolish, and that also coming from a respected role model, that young person would be forgiven to start believing that they are foolish by nature and go on to blame themselves for the predicament they find themselves in.

Apostle Kenneth Nkambule
Pigg’s Peak

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