Man forced to walk naked in village

The sight of a 54-year-old man walking naked down the grassy path excited young children and adults at Thononda village as they swarmed around him like stinging bees.

Kids giggled. Adults, male and female, jeered at him, calling him all sort of vulgar names. The air was filled with ululations and shouts of expressing pleasure, such as “ariye-riyeeee!”

They started singing an umzabalazo song, Dubula dubula (Shoot shoot). “A rwiwe! (Let's assault him!),” said a man.

But a female voice shouted: “No, we mustn't beat him!”

They sang, gloating at him: “Rine ri mabunyu (We are the naked ones).”

That's only part of the nasty video clip which some community members enjoyed taking during the incident.

Vho-Mmbude Calvin Tshivhase, the naked man in the video, was walking to the graveyard last Thursday when his cousin, Ms Suzan Manngo (33), invited him into her home.

He went in and sat somewhere in the yard while she was busy with her domestic chores. “I didn't know my cousin had a house of her own and she was happy for me to come in,” Tshivhase said. “But soon afterwards, a man came and picked up a handhoe which the children were using in the yard.”

The man (37), who is alleged to be Manngo's ex-partner and the father of her two children, is said to have charged at Tshivhase with the handhoe. He struck at him three times, but Tshivhase grabbed the handhoe mid-air each time. He accused Tshivhase of stealing his “wife”.

“Fortunately, I didn't sustain any severe, bleeding injuries,” he said. “He then requested me to get into the house so we could talk.” Once Tshivhase was inside the house, the man stood in the doorway and phoned his father and other relatives to come.

Meanwhile, Manngo had also alerted the police. The ex-partner's relatives arrived. They asked what had brought Tshivhase into that house. The police also arrived and found Manngo outside and drove away with her for safety reasons. According to Manngo, they wanted to call for backup from the police station since they feared the wrath of the incensed community members.

However, one person inside the house blew a whistle and residents flocked into Manngo's house. “They forced me to strip naked and walk out of the house,” he wept. “And I did. Kids and grown-ups laughed at me. They robbed me of my life.”

Tshivhase is more pained about the fact that he was abused by people whom he knew very well. “I got a call from a fellow villager who is in Cape Town,” he said. “He wanted to know why I was in a video clip, naked and all. Everyone saw my genitals in the village. I am dead – there's no life left inside me.”

Police officers finally came and found the residents forcing Tshivhase down the street. He was rescued.

On Sunday morning, Manngo agreed with Tshivhase's version of the story when speaking to Limpopo Mirror. “(My ex-partner) and I separated some two years ago,” she said. “I had served him with a protection order, and I still fail to understand the reason why he came to my house to cause such havoc. I am feeling sad for all that happened to Vho-Tshivhase.”

The victim's wife, Vho-Emily Mokgola, said the residents had emasculated her husband. "I am devastated; even my children are traumatised," she said. "Just imagine little boys and girls, teenagers for that matter, videographing a naked father of five children!"

Chief Thandululo Tshivhase expressed his disgust at the manner in which the husband and father of five was treated by residents.

“This is reckless behaviour by residents and the civic leadership,” Chief Tshivhase said. “Some residents refuse to obey the traditional leaders, and so they cause disorder in the village. And all this is bringing fear to law-abiding residents."

The spokesperson for the Siloam police, W/O Edward Tharaga, confirmed the incident and said five suspects had been arrested. They were all charged with public indecency and assault.

“They will appear in court soon,” he said. “We are still looking for the chief suspect. More residents can be arrested and linked to this case."

Date:02 April 2015

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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