High School student hangs self with school tie over abuse

A Grade 10 learner hung herself after she had been complaining about her grandmother’s abuse since her father passed away.

Nomalungelo Cele from Gula in KwaHlabisa, in the far north of KwaZulu Natal, hung herself using a school tie on Friday after she had been complaining about the abuse she was suffering at the hands of her grandmother.

NEIGHBOURS BLAME THEMSELVES

According to a KZN-based Zulu news site, Cele had been complaining about this since her father passed away early this year.

Neighbours who spoke to Zimoja confirmed that Cele was indeed being abused by the grandmother and now the community is calling for her to be chased away and out of the area because of the allegations.

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Cele who was doing grade grade 10 at Mkhaliphi High is said to have written a letter where she was requesting her mother to come and fetch her from kwaHlabisa and take her away from the abuse of her grandmother.

“Nomalungelo even asked her mother to send her money for a taxi so that she could leave her grandmother and go stay with her. She was going through a lot and we witnessed some of the abuse she went through. We are also to blame because we never took the initiative to help the young lady as neighbours. She was hurting and suffering at the same time but we never took the time to know how bad the situation was between the grandmother and the grandchild,” a neighbour said.

SHE WENT AWOL

“She never mentioned anything about taking her own life. We were surprised to learn that she had gone AWOL on Friday, shortly after she came back from school. The grandmother was accused of beating up the girl every now and then. She never wanted her to leave the house and to go and play with her peers. When her friends came over, the grandmother would cause a scene so that other kids would go and leave her behind,” said the neighbour, who wished not to be named.

According to the neighbour, they discovered the body of Cele after a local prophet instructed the family where they would find it.

“On Saturday the grandmother and some relatives visited a local prophet to seek answers about Nomalungelo’s whereabouts and the prophet told them that they were late and that the child had already committed suicide. Indeed they went to the area where the prophet had predicted and she was found hanging from a tree. She committed suicide by hanging herself using a school tie,” the neighbour said.