DEATH IS AT OUR DOORSTEP: SIX BANNA BA JAN KEMP KILLED THEMSELVES IN FOUR MONTHS.

BANNA BA JAN KEMP NOTICE

TO COMMUNITY OF JAN KEMPDORP IN SADNESS,

The world has occasioned salient and pertinent socio-economic issues, awareness and advocacy; activism has been reduced to an exercise designated to a certain month or day like November!  Its contentious I know but before one gets anywhere we should unequivocally reject this occasional posture in dealing with prevailing issues, because our lives don’t have stop and go. Six Banna Ba Jan Kemp have taken their own lives, leaving their loved ones in psychological, physical and lifelong tatters with a sparse idea for their actions.

When a child is born, often it’s expected that she will outlive her parents and see them to their last days on earth. Lately parents bury their children by numbers, because of many reasons such as incurable diseases, violence, alcohol, drugs, road accidents and suicides just to name a few. The latter haunts, weigh down and gnaws substantial South Africa men by day, because they have been socialized to be strong and not invalidate their manhood. What is suicide? Suicide is a deliberate act of ending one’s life by not limited to hanging, pesticides, poising and firearms.

There are associated factors or triggers that lead or culminate into suicide which includes mental disorders, drug misuse, psychological states, socio-economic, family and social situations, and cultural factors.

Jan Kempdorp has not been spared by this silent and lethal killer called suicide; six Banna Ba Jan Kemp reportedly killed themselves in a period of four months.
Causes of suicide ideation or the act itself has been a phenomenon that sociologists have been struggling with since the beginning of time. Durkheim (1897) is of the view that suicide can be categorised in four types, namely:

• Egoistic suicide reflects a prolonged sense of not belonging, of not being integrated in a community.
• Altruistic suicide is characterized by a sense of being overwhelmed by a group’s goals and beliefs.
• Anomic suicide is comprised of an individual’s moral confusion and lack of social direction, which is related to dramatic social and economic upheaval.
• Fatalistic suicide is characterized by an individual when is excessively regulated, when their futures are pitilessly blocked and passions violently choked by oppressive discipline.

The four kinds of suicides above can be associated with the recent spades of young men killing themselves in Jan Kempdorp.  Furthermore Durkheim (1897) concluded that between sexes more men are killing themselves than women, which is evident with the prevailing male suicide crisis in Jan Kempdorp.

According to Gsell (2018) at a macro level it is estimated that 14 to 18 men kill themselves every day in South Africa, which is three times more than the women’s rate of suicide. Key among the factors that affect the surge in men killing themselves is exacerbated by the notion that is “unmanly to cry or speak of one’s challenges” and often some of the reasons men kill themselves for can be solved or alternatives found.

Banna Ba Jan Kemp are saddened and greatly pained by the six men suicide cases recently reported. We will like to send our sincere and humble condolences to their families, and loved ones. Death is an inevitable terrifying and unkind guest to every household, and when it comes through suicide it cuts deep. We believe this surge in young men killing themselves reflects the nature of society they find themselves in, where death is the only option. This deliberate act of taking one’s life, cries out for help and systems to look into men’s mental and overall challenges.  It’s a sad period for Jan kempdorp, a dark cloud of death lurks and haunts the dreams and aspirations of the many bright young men.

These six men deaths of Banna Ba Jan Kemp, it’s a reminder that certain cultural practices and social norms should be banished, men’s mental health should be prioritized, oppressive socio-economic reality of black people and dispossession need an urgent permanent solution thus a new world must be found for young men to appreciate life.

We appeal to all men in Jan kempdorp and neighbouring communities to reach out to the leadership of Banna ba Jan Kemp when they experience any challenges in life. We extend a shoulder to cry on, let us hold hands and find solutions to whatever is troubling you; we need you Monna wa Jan kemp.

Yours in Mourning,
Banna Ba Jan Kemp
Neo Modise 064 752 3362  Mokwaledi Wa Banna Ba Jan Kemp

Obakeng Mompati Motshwakae 078 239 7453 Modula Setilo Wa Banna Ba Jan Kemp