ONGWEDIVA – A 56-year-old female lecturer at the University of Namibia’s Hifikepunye Pohamba campus allegedly committed suicide in her designated lecture hall yesterday.
The deceased was identified as Nuusiku Shaanika, who has been a lecturer in arts education since 1999.
Hostel matron Katrina Amakali-Ashivudhi narrated that the two of them had been sharing a bedroom in recent days.
«Last week, Shaanika’s house caught fire, and only books were burned because we managed to remove her belongings. Thereafter, she decided to relocate to my house just next door to hers on the campus premises,” she said.
Amakali-Ashivudhi said her best friend never showed any suicidal signs, adding: “She was okay. She used to wake up at midnight to mark students’ papers. She was a peaceful woman”.
She furthermore recounted Shaanika taking her car to the garage on Monday and returning home in the afternoon.
“She did not eat dinner. She told me she is tired from the garage,” Amakali-Ashivudhi said.
On Monday at around 23h00, Shaanika informed her she was going to the office to collect the papers she had to mark.
“We went together to the office but at first she didn’t want me to accompany her,” she added.
“Yesterday, at around 07h00, I was worried about where Shaanika was because she was not at home at the time and we usually bathed together and left the house together. I phoned her,” she said.
To her shock, the phone was ringing in the sitting room.
“I was worried because her vehicle was in the parking lot. I went to check on her in the lecture hall but it was locked,” she added.
Her worst fear would soon become a reality as she moved around Shaanika’s lecture hall, checking through the windows until she saw her body hanging inside.
“I then notified my colleagues. It is not easy to lose someone in such a way, [someone] who is close to you,” a clearly distraught Amakali-Ashivudhi said.
Staff members on campus described Shaanika as a peaceful and courteous person – features that earned her everyone’s respect.
Students at the campus who spoke to New Era said they lost a hard-working lecturer in Shaanika.
They described her as someone who always pushed them to pass with flying colours.
“She was like a mother to us. We never failed her subject. She always motivated us to study hard. The gap she left is massive,” said a third-year student.
Meanwhile, campus director Jacob Sheehama said students and lecturers will be given psychological counselling as it is not easy for them to cope during this devastating moment.