Harare – A disturbing wave of teenage suicides continues to grip Zimbabwe, with the latest tragedies highlighting the devastating consequences of heartbreak, poverty, mental health struggles, and the insidious influence of drug abuse on the nation’s youth. The recent death of 19-year-old Tanyaradzwa Rimau in Epworth, along with two other separate incidents across the country, has cast a harsh spotlight on the urgent need for greater mental health awareness and accessible support systems for young people.
“My brother sent me to the shops and when I returned, I found him dead. I then went and reported the issue to my aunt,” his little brother recounted, his voice filled with a grief no child should have to bear.
His parents had left for work that morning, unaware of the despair that gripped their son. Sources say that Tanya’s decision to end his life was triggered by his father’s reaction to the news that he had impregnated a 17-year-old girl in the area.
According to family members, Tanya’s father, Trymore Rimau, had chased him away from home, unable to reconcile with his son’s actions and the perceived disrespect towards family values. “He wasn’t coming home, he was living on the streets, and when he came back, he caused problems, so I chucked him out,” Rimau said, his words laced with a mixture of regret and frustration.
After being evicted from his family home, Tanya briefly co-habited with a single mother of two in the Solani Area of Epworth. However, this arrangement proved short-lived, and he was soon asked to leave. With nowhere else to turn, Tanya returned to his parents’ house, only to be turned away again by his father.
“He was also chucked out by the woman he was staying with, and he returned home, but his father chased him away again. He then came back home knowing his parents had gone for work, and took his own life,” his aunt recounted, her voice heavy with sorrow.
Adding to the complexity of the situation, family members and community members claimed that Tanya had become increasingly involved in drug and substance abuse, which had significantly affected his decision-making. This claim was echoed by several Epworth residents, who spoke of the rampant drug problem plaguing the community.
“Tanya was like my son, I saw him being born,” said one Epworth resident, Denford Chinete. “I work with his father. He just started behaving strangely. He started refusing to go to school when he was in Grade 7. His father tried everything, but to no avail. When you would look at him, he seemed like a calm guy. I think he was dragged into drug and substance abuse by rowdy friends. His father told me yesterday that he scolded him for smoking drugs. You know, when you try to reprimand such children, they see it as if you are just troubling them.”
Denford Chinete, a friend, workmate, and neighbour to Tanya’s father, shared a similar sentiment. “Drug and substance abuse is so rampant here in Epworth. I also have a child whom I also chucked out of the house. He always had red eyes, and he would eat too much sadza as if he had been doing too much work. Yesterday I went to Dombo Police station. There were kids who were being thoroughly disciplined by police after one of them pulled out a knife on his mother, even saying today I want to stab you with a knife, telling his mother,” Chinete said, highlighting the pervasive nature of the drug problem and its devastating impact on families.
The incident happened last week in Epworth, in the “F” section (of Epworth).
Another mourner, Ruth Mungaza, a neighbour and member of a white garment apostolic sect, revealed that Tanya had previously sought spiritual guidance from her husband, a spiritual leader (Madzibaba).
“Tanya was a child in our community. He used to come for spiritual help from my husband, who is a white garment apostolic sect leader (Madzibaba). I was surprised that this time he didn’t come for spiritual prayers, he just committed suicide without seeking spiritual help as he would normally do with his father whenever they needed prayers. When Tanya came (with his father), he seemed like someone who has been attacked by unseen things. He could not speak when he came to see my husband who is a spiritual leader and after he was prayed for, he started talking, he regained his speech.
“It’s been some time though when they last came for payers, but during that incident, he seemed as if he was being possessed by a spirit. The explanation given by Madzibaba after this prayer was that Tanya and his father should go to their rural home because Tanya needed to be possessed by the spirit of his deceased grandfather. Unfortunately, they didn’t follow the advice and so they didn’t go to Masvingo, to the rural area, where they were told to go and see the elders of the village and say that we are the children who have come, we didn’t know the origins of our home, but we have now arrived, because it was said that wealth and everything else is there. It’s just that things were delayed. So I believe that those are some of the things that might have caused his death,” Mungaza explained, suggesting that a failure to connect with his ancestral roots may have contributed to Tanya’s inner turmoil.
Tanya’s best friend, Precious Masika, known as Gonzo, revealed that Tanya had expressed suicidal thoughts in the past.
“He was a very close friend of mine. For quite some time now, Tanya has been revealing that he was going to commit suicide. He always used to say he wished he could get US$10 to go to Bulawayo where he would go and become a street kid or commit suicide there. I would ask him why he wanted to do so and he would say he was not in good books with his father, little by little I’m having problems with my father, he would say. He said for any little thing that he did, his father would chase him away from home.
“Although there were so many things that used to happen between his father and himself, however, this time he didn’t tell me why he eventually killed himself. Just yesterday, we were together. I told him that I’m off to work and he said It’s alright my friend, I will see you when you come back. He was actually smiling, he didn’t say anything. For about a year he has been revealing that he is having serious problems with his father.”
Masika dismissed rumours that Tanya had been renting a place in Epworth. “Tanya was not renting. He was living with other friends who were looking after him after his father had chucked him from their house. When someone started telling me that Tanya had committed suicide, I told him to please call me with your phone because I want to talk to you. He was slow to call, so I ended up cutting the phone call myself because he was slow to call. What Tanya did did not please us, everyone is not happy.
“Tanya should have told others what was eating him, we would have told him not to commit suicide. Tanya was a good guy, but if you wronged him a fight would quickly ensue and I’m the one who would often help him to fight his offenders. Tanya did not yet have a wife or a child. Anyone who comes saying they are pregnant with Tanya’s child is lying. It’s a lie that Tanya went to see his girlfriend yesterday. Tanya was not interested in girls,” Masika said, emphasizing that Tanya’s struggles were primarily with his father and not with romantic relationships.
Tanya’s father recounted a recent encounter with his son. “I last saw Tanya two days ago. He came when I was playing one of Tongai Moyo’s songs. He danced to the song in a way that not even [Alick] Macheso or anyone else could dance to music like that. He danced for about 30 minutes then came to me, greeted me and we discussed our issues. That’s when he said he is now going to see his girlfriend and he disappeared. Then the next day, on my way to town, I met him at the nearby gardens. I talked to him for about 30 minutes again. He was then given 3 hoes (mapadza) by a neighbouring woman who asked him to leave them at her house. That’s when I went to town to buy what I wanted to buy. When I came back around sunset at about 5.30pm, that’s when I heard that Tanya has committed suicide. I wondered why he would kill himself.”
“I didn’t know that with the way he was dancing, he was actually saying goodbye to me. He didn’t leave any suicide note or say anything. I then heard from Precious, that he had said ‘haaa Pure, I’m going to hang myself’. I was in town, so I didn’t hear that, I just learnt about it from the grapevine. He was a soft spoken someone who never argued with anyone. His death did not please me.”
“He had moved out of the house and had begun renting in the Solani area. He would say to me, that we are still young, we still want to enjoy life with women and I would advise him saying these things of women will kill you, and he said I now want to come back home. I did not know that he meant coming back home to commit suicide and kill himself. Tanya’s death has pained the whole of Zimbabwe. He was such a young boy, he was very understanding. He just took his life simply and hanged himself,” said Tanya’s father, Mr Trymore Rimau.
A female Epworth resident who did not reveal her name said: “Tanya was like a son to me because he was of the same age as my child, he would also refer to me as ‘mother’. As for me, I am pained, because I never heard any trouble from this child. I never heard about him taking drugs, maybe he was doing so without my knowledge. When he committed suicide, he even came and sat on that tree there and we talked to him, but I didn’t see that he had a problem. If only he had told his story, maybe we could have helped him at that time. Tanya was a child who could be sent on errands.
“When I was in South Africa, I would even send him to go and make bricks at our home. When he left the tree where he was sitting, he had already drawn water from the well and even bathed. I think that when he left bathing, that’s when he came and cut the rope from the well. He committed suicide around 1pm, and was then taken (by the police) around 5pm. As parents, we don’t know what burdened this child at his age, when he was still a young child.”
Another Epworth resident and former police officer said: “I’m a former police officer. I’m running a security company. I came from work and arrived at the durawall where I was told, there are problems, and I found that there were many people gathered. That’s when I was told that Tanya had committed suicide, the police had not yet arrived. That’s when I went into the house and saw ahhh, the boy had hanged himself. The father was at work. The mother was at work, I said have you contacted the father, another neighbour, Mr Jororo, said we have phoned the father. As for the mother, we just said ‘offer your condolences upon arrival’. It did not sit well with me. Two days ago I met him going to work and he said good morning dad, no problem, no what.”
“I asked Mukanya (referring to Tanya’s father by their family totem). He said the child was a problematic child who was not listening such that he ended up leaving home to roam around, staying with other boys, his friends… come back home, the child doesn’t want to come back home. I asked my young brother what the problem was with his child. He said Tanya said he is now 19 years old, he is now over-age, so he can now do what he wants.
“Me, through personal experience, I am now 65 years old, a child should listen to what has been said by the father and mother. If he listens, there is no problem. If he is stubborn, that’s where there is a problem. It’s similar to this child of our area (Tanya), it’s the stubbornness that he had, also through being influenced by friends. Because, through rumours, I don’t know how far it is true, I just heard that he had begun taking drugs. Now we can’t tell whether when he committed suicide he was drunk or sober. Then the other day I met him at their gate on my way to work, he was not wearing a shirt, he was only wearing a pair of trousers and was dancing to music from his phone, then from there I knew that something was wrong.”
“Drug abuse here in Epworth is just too much, I don’t want to lie. I can’t pinpoint that here and there, but it’s rampant. What we don’t like as parents is that children who take drugs are stubborn, they don’t understand what we are saying, they say what we are saying is old-fashioned. Someone will be unemployed, and ends up taking things from his mother or my tools like a hammer, pliers, screwdriver and sell them so that he can get money to buy his pills and drugs.”
As investigations into Tanya’s death continue, the community of Epworth is left grappling with grief, regret, and a growing awareness of the urgent need for greater support for young people struggling with mental health issues and the pressures of modern life.
In another heart-wrenching incident, an 18-year-old man from Cowdray Park suburb in Bulawayo hanged himself after he was accused of impregnating his cousin. Meluleki Sibanda was found hanging from a mango tree, his life tragically cut short by a similar combination of shame, fear, and despair.
On February 21, 2025, around 8pm, the deceased’s father confronted him over the allegations. The family decided to resolve the matter with other relatives and the police. Around 10pm, they retired to bed.
The next day, around 6am, the deceased’s father discovered his son’s lifeless body hanging from a mango tree near the gate. The body was subsequently taken to Mpilo Central Hospital for a post-mortem.
Bulawayo acting police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Nomalanga Msebele confirmed the incident. “The police are investigating a case of death by hanging, which occurred in Cowdray Park suburb. We urge parents or guardians to cautiously deal with such serious issues without inducing fear in the perpetrators to avoid such incidents,” she said.
Alisha, the youngest of four siblings, is yet to be laid to rest as her mother has insisted on a post-mortem examination to determine the exact cause of death. The post-mortem is expected to be carried out this week.
The discovery of Alisha’s lifeless body was made by her father, Mr. Simango, who recounted the harrowing moment. “I was the first person to find her dead, and that’s when I called the others to come,” he said, his voice heavy with grief. “I still cannot believe what happened because there was no hint, whatsoever, that there was something troubling her.”
In one poignant entry, Alisha wrote: “My name is Alisha. I was born in 2010, 9 June. Right now, as I am writing It is 2025, 14 March at night. I am 14 years old I don’t know who to trust any more with my secrets as a teen neighbour except for God the Lord whom I pray to.”
The diary entries further reveal the depth of Alisha’s emotional turmoil. “There is something going on in my life, school problems. I am in Form One and there is so much happening in my life every night. I am always crying I wish someone was just there to comfort me,” she wrote, her words echoing the silent struggles of many teenagers navigating the complexities of adolescence.
