Download PDFSimphiwe* (his family wished to remain anonymous), from Orange Farm (in the south of Gauteng) Extension 8B, strangled himself to death after he was made a laughing stock on social media (Facebook). The 26-year-old was found dead by his younger sister in the outside toilet in the afternoon of 9 February 2022.
His mother said she tried calling him and knocked on his room door numerous times but he did not respond or open. She thought he had locked himself inside and that maybe he was sleeping so then she went back inside the house.
Simphiwe’s younger sister had been sent by her mother to a neighbour, and when she came back after about 30 minutes she found her brother dead, hanging from the toilet rood with a rope around his neck. She immediately called her mother to see, and they called the ambulance and the SAPS. But according to Simphiwe’s mother and sister, they waited very long for the arrival of the SAPS and Emergency Medical Services, from 17:45 until 20:00 when they arrived.
Simphiwe’s sister went to his room to see the cause to her brother’s suicide, and she found a belt hanging on the roof of his room, so it seems her brother had attempted to hang himself there first. There was no note, but on the chair there was a phone and when she opened her brother’s phone, she found out that Simphiwe was actually going through cyberbullying with many, many posts and messages gossiping about and ridiculing him on social media.
This article was submitted on 10 February 2022. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
