Manto launches suicide line
2003-10-09 17:19
Johannesburg - Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang launched the government's new toll-free Suicide Crisis Line with an address to schoolgirls at Kingsmead College, Johannesburg on Thursday.
The line - 0800 567 567 - which is co-sponsored by the SA Depression and Anxiety Support Group, was to open on Friday to coincide with World Mental Health Day, but was officially launched on Thursday.
Tshabalala-Msimang said teenage suicide, which is increasing in South Africa, affected both rich and poor.
In poor communities, Tshabalala-Msimang explained, poverty, crime, alcohol abuse and other social ills often led people with no social or material resources to take their own lives.
On the other hand, those whose material needs were provided for in abundance, could become so self-obsessed they turned to suicide as a form of escape.
Escapes
The minister also warned the schoolgirls about the "escapes" of drugs and alcohol.
"You do the same things they (the poor) do when confronted with peer pressure. Peer pressure makes you try drugs, but actually what you are trying to do is to fight the depression of feeling excluded.
"You want to be high, to be with it, you try drugs but then you say to yourself 'what have I done?' You become ashamed, depressed and in the end attempt suicide," the minister said.
Tshabalala-Msimang encouraged the girls to talk about their problems.
"If you feel very low, if you feel you just wish you were not a part of this world, just phone the line and there will be someone who will help. The most critical thing is to talk and to have someone who will listen.
'Scars remain'
"This number is free, it's a service government is putting at your disposal. We have help lines for Aids, sexual abuse, etc, and they are proving very successful. Of course we have not got support services set up in every school, we probably have not done enough but at least we've started somewhere," she said.
Tshabalala-Msimang said government had embraced an inter-sectoral approach to child and youth mental health with the launch of inter-departmental initiatives such as the Health Promoting Schools Initiative, and the Life Skills programmes.
A school-based suicide prevention programme, being piloted in the Free State, was in its final stages and was another inter-departmental contribution to deputy president Jacob Zuma's moral regeneration programme.
"We come from a very difficult past, we have moved away from that but still the scars remain with most of us. We must make sure we learn to see each other as brothers and sisters, as South Africans all of us, developing the country together.
"Life today has become so fast, everyday you switch on the TV and hear all bad news. People get upset by that but they don't realise that the best thing to do is to try and help," she said.
Rich and poor
Reacting to the minister's address, Sajeeli Wilson, a 16-year-old pupil at Kingsmead, said she was especially impressed with the health department's concern for both the privileged and under-privileged.
"I liked the fact that they are looking at both communities, the poor and the privileged. Often we feel left out you know because we are privileged, but now they've come to us and said we can get help too," Wilson said.
Her class-mates concurred. Kulani Shiluvane, 17, said she felt re-assured that depression and anxiety were not being turned into shameful illnesses that had to be hidden.
"It's nice to know depression and suicide are not being made into a stigma. It's nice to know its something we can talk about and once we talk about it, things can come out and solutions can be found. At least we're not told not to talk about it," Shiluvane said.
Siphumlile Radebe, 17, commended the minister for taking an interest in the needs of teenagers and for understanding that the youth are the future. "She didn't undermine our needs in any way," Radebe said.
- SAPA