Kaya 959 Reporter
Suicides have been on a dramatic rise in Gauteng, and are said to be much higher than the 90% increase that has been reported.
South African Depression and Anxiety Group are saying they are receiving over 2 500 calls a day, with 1 in every 5 calls being suicide calls.
During the COVID 19 lockdown period they used to have 600 calls a day.
Gauteng recorded 1 325 cases of death by suicide since April 2020, an increase of about 90% from 695 cases reported during the 2019/20 financial year.
With 325 cases, people aged between 30 and 39 recorded the highest number of suicides
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Vanirsha Gordon from South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG), joined Nzing Qunta to give us context of these alarming figures. She shared more on how people in Gauteng are feeling and what some of the trigger points were that led to the increase in suicides.
“A lot of people are feeling anxious, a lot of people are feeling unwell, a lot of people are feeling nervous about their situation of how our lives ae and how we are having to adapt. Many more people are feeling anxious about the new fourth wave and we are expecting a lot more higher numbers.
“People are feeling anxious that they might not be eating properly, that they might not be feeling that well. There many that are feeling overstressed, burnout and that’s all the feeling that are coming through right now.”
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Gordon also touched on what factors are impacting individual in Gauteng and across the world during this time of the year.
“There is obviously financial stress, there is trauma of when we all first went into COVID 19, we had to change our entire lives where we had to follow these protocols, and had to wear these masks, we had to make sure everything is sanitized.
“A lot of us have lost family members, and loved one whether to COVID or other illnesses.”
“That is also very stressful because many people haven’t had an opportunity to grieve, the way they used to grieve pre-COVID 19. There’s a lot of factors that are impacting each and every individual.”


