A South African cleric has committed suicide over his unbearable marital problems.
According to reports, the 36-year-old pastor identified as Precocious Mpofu prior to his death murdered his two daughters Shalom and Panashe aged 11 and 7 respectively and then ended his life
Mpofu who was a pastor at Prophet Blessing Chiza’s Eagle Life Assembly, allegedly forced his two daughters to drink a drainage cleaning chemical before taking the same substance himself.
The trio had been laid to rest last weekend while his wife, Ms Chido Chipangura, still lives in South Africa.
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The late Pastor Mpofu allegedly left a suicide note in which he stated that he was facing a lot of problems, most of them in his marriage.
He allegedly said there were some people who were stalking him and mentioned four people together with their contact details but did not give reasons why the individuals were stalking him.
Mpofu’s neighbour described the pastor as a gentleman who was devoted to his wife and may have failed to come to terms with rejection.
He said: “The pastor was too devoted to his wife. He loved his children and wife so much but it was embarrassing in church when rumours went around that she was having extramarital affairs. They had since separated and we heard she had moved on but he just could not accept it,”
Chipangura family members said they were yet to come to terms with the death of the children. A family representative who spoke to The Chronicle said;
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“As a family, we are very sad. We have lost two children and we are still in mourning. We thank the family, friends and neighbours for their support at this time,”
The deceased is said to have sent a lot of messages to his family on a fateful day although he did not mention his intentions to kill his children and commit suicide but gave a hint when he directed how his property should be shared.
The family members told The Chronicle at their family home in Nkulumane suburb last Friday that from the information they received, the tragedy could have happened on Monday, October 15, between 2 PM and 4 PM after Pastor Mpofu had just returned from collecting his children from school. The deceased’s father, Mr Sipho Mpofu, said:
“I am reliably informed residents at his apartment saw him carrying each of the daughters on his shoulders into their flat at around 2 PM. At 2:40 PM he sent his sister here in Bulawayo a WhatsApp message saying one of his daughters, Shalom, had died.
Exactly 10 minutes later, he sent another message saying his second daughter had also passed on. This puzzled his sister who was trying to call him to understand what exactly he was trying to say.
He said when she tried to text him back, messages were no longer being delivered and the sister phoned Ms Chipangura telling her to go and check on her husband as he was texting strange messages.
“Ms Chipangura dashed to the flat only to find three bodies. The kids’ bodies were neatly laid in bed between blankets while Precocious’ body was on the floor,”