BEITBRIDGE residents have expressed concern over a spate of suicide cases that have claimed the lives of three females, including a 14-year-old believed to have been chastised by a relative over illicit romance.
The border town has recorded at least three cases in as many weeks, all passion-related, while about six sudden deaths were reported in the same period.
Officer Commanding Beitbridge Police District Chief Superintendent Mesuli Ncube confirmed two of the deaths and said he had no information on the others.
“A young girl (14) committed suicide after being reprimanded by a parent for arriving home late,” he said.
“Another woman is also known to have taken her life in yet unknown circumstances.”
It is understood the 14-year-old was seeing a married man whose wife visited her parents to register her displeasure.
The now-deceased arrived home late where she was met by an unfriendly atmosphere and a verbal attack, resulting in her ingesting rat poison.
The other woman, a known shoe vendor, committed suicide after discovering that her husband was dating a woman older than her.
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A third woman, who lived in the Mazondo Area in Dulivhadzimu high-density suburb, reportedly committed suicide in unexplained circumstances.
Elsewhere, a young man identified as Mashudu from Chicago village drowned in a failed attempt to swim in an area away where he had visited.
Also, a child from Makakavhule is reported to have drowned in the swollen Mzingwane River after slipping off the back of a relative attempting to cross the flooded river.
On Tuesday, people gathered in Dulivhadzimu for the funeral of a toddler burnt to death in a house she lived with her mother.
In an unrelated incident, a four-day-old baby was found near St Mary’s Secondary School.
The child is safe at Beitbridge District Hospital and her mother, who has since been identified, is helping police with investigations.
Meanwhile, Beitbridge ward 3 councillor Takavingei Mahachi has appealed to residents to seek solutions to their problems instead of resorting to suicide.
“We must have people who sell drugs and these poisons registered and controlled because children and suicidal people are accessing them easily,” he said.
