The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa
Weekender Correspondent
A MUTARE vendor on Monday committed suicide by gulping a pesticide over her missing money.
Business was brought to a halt at the Penhalonga Rank along Second Street in the city centre when the 32-year-old mother of two, Mukudzeyi Munyika, suddenly fell to the ground after consuming the dangerous pesticide. Passersby gathered around her, thereby making it difficult for anyone to render her first aid. However, someone spotted the pesticide’s bottle and alerted the others.
An ambulance was called and Munyika was rushed to Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital. When The Weekender arrived at the hospital, Munyika was being attended to by medical doctors.
Munyika died the following day (Tuesday).
Munyika’s friend who was at the hospital, Zorodzai Chikonyora, said Munyika had informed her of her intentionn to take her own life.
“She bought the pesticide in the morning and called me before consuming it. That was around 12pm. She told me she was thinking of killing herself. When I asked her why she hung up the phone before giving me more details,” said Chikonyora.
She said Munyika escorted her two children to school before ending her life.
“One of her children is in Grade Six, while the other one is in ECD. Who will look after these young children? If people were stealing her money, was it not better for her to just move out and find alternative accommodation rather than cutting her life short?” said Chikonyora.
Munyika’s sister-in-law, Vimbai Matika, said they stayed together in Dangamvura and she (Munyika) was always complaining about her missing money.
“She was always losing money and she did not know the person behind it. She always harboured suicide thoughts because of the continuous disappearance of her money. We were staying at a family house with the Munyika siblings and their spouses. She was always complaining that one of us was stealing her savings. She did not accuse anyone in particular. Nobody ever came forward and I think that is why she killed herself,” said Matika.
Efforts to get a comment from Munyika’s husband, Phillimon Maziti, were fruitless.
