EDITORIAL COMMENT: Don’t play around with death

CASES of people faking their own deaths are not new in the media.

Celebrities and ordinary folks seem to be enjoying pulling this sickening stunt.

The trend has been going on for years, giving people quite a scare.

Popular figures or socialites pull these stunts when they are promoting new products on the market.

Other celebrities fake their own deaths to gain popularity after being driven away from the spotlight.

Musicians have even been faking their own deaths to promote new songs.

In Zim dancehall, Killer T, the late Soul Jah Love, Kinnah and Lady Squanda, are some of the artists who have been said to have faked their deaths at some point.

In sungura, veteran lyricist – Leonard Karikoga Zhakata – once made headlines after reports claimed he had died.

The singer then released the song “Gomba Remarara,” as a response.

However, such rumours are usually circulated by sick-minded people with unknown vendettas.

There are some people who fake their deaths after duping others of large amounts of money to try and avoid repaying those loans.

In extreme cases, some have even secured death certificates while they are still alive.

On October 28, we ran yet another disturbing story, involving a Morgan Zintec student, who faked her death to try and fool her lover.

Her fake death rumours sent shivers down the spines of her fellow students.

Pictures of her “corpse” covered half-way with a blanket, circulated on social media, giving fellow students, and relatives, quite a scare.

It, however, emerged she had faked her own death to fool her lover, who had paid lobola.

The student is also said to have instructed some of her relatives to inform her lover about the said death.

All hell broke loose when it emerged she was still alive.

Her plot to dupe her lover was finally exposed.

The student, who was believed to have missed her examinations, came up with a wicked stunt.

Her action is a clear testimony that she is a con artist who can do anything to get easy money.

In the process, she has tarnished the image of fellow Morgan Zintec female students.

She has also soiled the image of her family.

As such, she needs to come back to her senses and do the correct thing – apologise.

The trauma they give to their relatives, friends and victims should never be taken lightly.

Faking one’s own death should be punishable to ensure sanity prevails in our society.

We can’t have people who have the guts to do as they please since this is totally unacceptable.

Not only is this stunt sickening but it stinks to say the least.

It’s also high time people value life and despise death.

As a nation, it’s high time we stop playing around with death.