Okahandja doctor ends own life

THE Okahandja community is in shock after a well-known doctor at the town, Sylvanus Dirk Hanekom, took his own life yesterday.

Hanekom shot himself at about 12h45 at his house.He was a general practitioner at the Okahandja Medical Practice.According to his colleague of the past 14 years, Dr Johan de Beer, Hanekom was ‘a really good friend and we worked together very well’.He said Hanekom served the Okahandja community with dignity and ‘went out of his way to help people irrespective of what time it was during the day or night’.De Beer said Hanekom had not been healthy for a while and was scheduled to go for a brain scan yesterday. Hanekom died without having gone for the scan, De Beer said. ‘It [his death] comes as a huge shock.’Police spokesperson Inspector Kauna Shikwambi confirmed Hanekom’s death. ‘We can confirm that Dr Hanekom committed suicide. He did not leave a suicide note.’It is understood that Hanekom’s wife was on her way from Cape Town yesterday.She was there visiting one of their daughters, who studies in the Western Cape. Another daughter works at a lodge in southern Namibia.