Man commits suicide at girlfriend's place

The lifeless body of a 30-year-old man was on Thursday cut from a rope inside his girlfriend's rented room at Goo-Ruele ward in Kanye.

The boyfriend lived and worked in Lobatse but often commuted from Kanye where he stayed at his girlfriend's rented house. Early on Thursday morning last week, his girlfriend left for work as usual, but upon return from work, she found her boyfriend hanging on the rafters of the room.

The landlord of the rented house said because she knew the house to be rented out to a woman, she was shocked to be called for a male body hanging inside the house, with bystanders already gathered around the room.

Confirming the suicide incident, Kanye Police Station Commander, Superintendent Vincent Pitseetsile said they are still establishing what could have led the deceased to commit suicide.

'It is a fresh matter and investigations on the issue are ongoing,' Pitseetsile said.

He also advised people to seek help from different authorities, whenever going through mental health crises or when having suicidal thoughts.

This suicide incident is one of the many that have been reported across the country and involving men. In fact, the World Population Review report (2021) states that the male suicide rate is four times higher than that of females in Botswana.

The country is also documented to have one of the highest suicide rates in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, according to the report.

With a suicide mortality rate of 16.1 per 100, 000 population Botswana is third in the region. Lesotho tops the region with total suicide rate of 72.4, while South Africa is second with total suicide rate of 23.5.