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Man hangs self over missing 'holy water'

by Whinsley Masara
20 Jun 2015 at 14:25hrs | Views
A-77-YEAR old man from Lupane committed suicide following a heated argument with his wife over a missing bottle of 'holy water.'

Mhlabuli Enoch Ncube of Ndimeni Village was found hanging from a tree about 700 metres away from his homestead on Wednesday. His wife, Sibonisiwe Ncube, 69, told The Chronicle that a bottle containing holy water which they had acquired from a prophet popularly known as Makhezi went missing from the homestead.

She said her husband responded harshly when she asked him where the bottle had gone to.

Sibonisiwe said he left the homestead in a huff and failed to return home for the night.

"My husband and I had a misunderstanding over a one litre bottle containing holy water which had gone missing. The next day, my neighbour told me the bad news that my husband had been found dead hanging from a tree," she said.

Sibonisiwe said he when he left home, she did not think he was angry enough to take his own life.

"He wasn't a short tempered man. I'm wondering what troubled him to this extent. I really don't have much to say," she said.

Bigboy Mlilo, a neighbour, said Bhekilizwe Ncube, the son of the late Mhlabuli, told him that his father had not came back home on Tuesday evening.

He said Bhekilizwe asked him to help him look for his father.

"We searched all around and were shocked to find him hanging from a tree which is about 700 metres away from his home. The young man told me what had transpired the previous day between his parents," said Mlilo.

He said he thought there could be more to the story as he found it hard to believe a man as old as Mhlabuli could commit suicide over a missing bottle.

"My neighbours are grown-ups who should have been able to resolve their problem rather than resort to this," said Mlilo.

He added: "If only he had talked to someone about what really bothered him or had left a note then it would have been better. Now we're just assuming that it's the bottle issue which didn't go down well with him," he said.

Matabeleland North Police spoken person Siphiwe Makonese was not reachable for comment.


Source - chronicle