OKAKU - A resident of Iitananga village in the Oshana region was left devastated after both her husband and son died by suicide this week.
The inconsolable widow, Ester Uushona, said the events have left her numb and speechless.
When New Era visited the family of the deceased yesterday, Uushona (66) said her 38-year-old son Kaalushu Itamalo informed his parents on Monday that he intends to get married, and asked his father for two heads of cattle.
He then threatened to commit suicide if his father didn’t fulfill his demands. “Jokingly, I asked why he’s demanding for two cows as if his (Kaalushu) fiancée is going to be married by my husband. I am not sure if the two had a different conversation thereafter,” she noted.
Family member Clementine Thomas said Kaalushu and his father had a heated exchange that day before he (Kaalushu) went to his flat in Ondangwa.
“Children at home said they had a confrontation about the cows, and they might have hurt each other’s feelings in the process,” she added.
Later that night, the father – Kuutondokwa Itamalo – asked the household members to go and sleep early.
It is said that during that night, Kuutondokwa was seen walking around the house restlessly.
He was then found hanging from a rope in a thatched room in the early morning hours of Tuesday.
“My grandchild woke up to go school when he found his grandfather hanging unconscious. I went to see what had happened, and that was it…my husband was gone…just like that,” Uushona narrated sadly.
Kaalushu was then informed about the death of his father.
Seemingly devastated, he told a family member that his father should not have committed suicide, as he (Kaalushu) should have died instead.
The following day, he also committed suicide by hanging himself with a rope in his shack.
“I am still in disbelief. I don’t know what has gotten into him to also take his life. I am so broken,” Uushona sobbed.
She described the pair as “quiet” and “unproblematic”.
“My husband was one of the quietest people I know. I have never heard him argue or say something bad towards anyone. On the other hand, Kaalushu was also unproblematic. Although he had not stayed with me for long, I knew him as a good son,” she reminisced.
Kaalushu is survived by his mother, eight siblings and four children.