MEDICAL CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENT FOUND HANGING, DEAD

MBABANE – Two students from different universities committed suicide this past Sunday.

A second-year Social Work student was found hanging from the rafters of a house on Sunday morning.  The Eswatini Medical Christian University (EMCU) student, Nonjabulo Mangwe, was discovered already dead by her younger brother. Mangwe was home alone while her stepfather, who is a pastor at the Rehoboth Revival Ministries, and her mother had gone to attend a church service in Matsapha. In an interview, her stepfather, Jerry Masango, said they were extremely shocked by the incident. Masango said they had no clue on why their daughter decided to end her life, as she did not show any signs of being depressed.

Related

He stated that when he went to report at the school, he was told that it could not be related to schoolwork as she had done well. Masango stated that Mangwe sat her examinations last week and was waiting for the results. He said although the school had ruled out the chances of the suicide being linked to the results, he suspected that there was a connection. Mangwe’s stepfather said she had hinted to them last week that she might need funds to supplement one of her subjects, as she suspected that she would fail it. He said they told her that they would wait and see the results before taking any decision. “We did not even raise our voices upon hearing that she might have to supplement.” Masango said his stepdaughter was a hard worker and they believed that she would pass, although she doubted herself.

He said Mangwe was a reserved child since her childhood and slept a lot. The man of God said her stepdaughter did not even have friends at school and after class, she would come straight home. As a result, he said even if she was depressed, there was no one she turned to due to her reserved nature. Masango said there was nothing they found on her phone to suggest that she had a misunderstanding with anyone. He said; “When we went to sleep on Saturday, she was her normal self. She remained with her younger brother watching television.”
According to Masango, on Sunday morning, they prepared to go to church and she remained behind, adding that the plan was that she would wake up and clean the house then attend a church service at a local church.

Masango said the young boy also attended a local church, while he and his wife went to Matsapha. He stated that the younger sibling was the one who came back first in the house and upon arrival, found her sister hanging in their bedroom. Masango said they were called by the young boy who broke the news. “I told him to seek help from elders who were close-by as we were in Matsapha,” said the pastor. Masango said the boy tried to help her sister, but she had already died.

Confirmed

Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed the suicide. Vilakati stated that police found the young woman hanging at around 2:50pm, inside her bedroom. Reached for comment, Registrar at EMCU, Sebenta Menon, said they had been made aware of a student who died, although they had not received a formal report from the family. When asked if the university provided counselling to students going through depression, Menon said they did. He said they had a counsellor who was employed on a full-time basis, but students had to go to the office if they were going through certain issues. Menon said at times there were referrals by parents and lecturers. The registrar said they might need to improve the counselling sessions to provide to groups. He said it was difficult to randomly identify a depressed scholar, hence they needed groups from the student body.

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