A 33-YEAR-OLD man of Kalunga village in Zimba has committed suicide by setting himself alight in a thatched house a few hours after members of a local church prayed for him.
Both Southern Province commissioner of police Mary Chikwanda and Zimba district commissioner Elizabeth Kalaluka confirmed the incident which happened on Tuesday at about 09:30 hours.
Ms Chikwanda identified the deceased as Aggrey Katobela of Chief Sipatunyana’s area. The reasons for Mr Katobela’s actions are not known, except that he is the seventh person to commit suicide in his family.
Ms Chikwanda said the deceased’s relatives opted to bury him the same day he died.
And Ms Kalaluka said Mr Katobela, who came from a family that has a history of members committing suicide, took his life after exhibiting strange behaviour and members of a local church were called in to pray for him.
“It’s like this issue (suicide) runs in their family. The mother to the deceased had 12 children and Mr Katobela becomes the seventh person to die in a similar manner as his six siblings,” she said.
Ms Kalaluka said Mr Katobela, who had “not been himself” for a fortnight, took his life in his house, a few hours after the people who had been praying for him left.
“The man had not been himself; he was talking and moving around, so his father invited people from the church to pray for him. After the prayers, the man later went to sleep, but afterwards his wife saw him removing grass from the roof. When she asked him what was going on, the man never responded,” she said.
Ms Kalaluka said it was at this point that the deceased’s wife saw their house in flames.
“She screamed for help but it was too late,” she said.
A wife and five children survive Mr Katobela.
Sad development and we pray that God will help the family especially the mother who have since lost 7 children under this devilish act.