The plight of an abused woman ...

A brave young woman who had endured the pain of being abused by her lover and had allegedly been attacked severely by the same man for years, took a bold step and spoke out about the abuse she had been going through.

Hilda Tshitetete (27) of Mangondi outside Thohoyandou is now a shadow of the beautiful woman she used to be. She is now scarred for life and she cannot even sit. Her buttocks have severe scars after the terrible beating she received. "I have kept this abuse under wraps for a long time, with the hope that things would change for the better. Things have moved from bad to worse, until this stage, where the man wanted to kill me. Take photographs of my buttocks. I am not even ashamed, because I want the world to see what evil men are capable of doing.”

She emphasised that it was the time that women should stand up "and fight for our rights, not keep quiet and be vulnerable to abuse." She said the man accused her of cheating on him from time to time and hit her all over her body. “Because I loved him, I thought he would change, until I ended up here at the hospital.”

She said that, on a Saturday morning, the man came to her place of work in Thohoyandou. "He was intoxicated and asked me why I did not make a ‘Please call me’ as usual. I had a new hairstyle, which he questioned and said that, because I was going with other men, I had a new hair style. He left, but late in the afternoon he came to my place with my daughter. That was when all hell broke loose and he accused me of having affairs with other men.”

She said he then started to assault her, “hitting me on the head with a beer bottle and he grabbed me by the hair before I fell down. He also used a panga and a hoe to attack me, and the attack left me with broken arms and all the scars you can see.”

She said she passed out and was taken to hospital, where the man came the following day to ask for forgiveness. "I told him right there that I won’t do that, and I called the police, who arrested him at the hospital," added Tshitetete.

The attack drew wide condemnation from local human rights organizations. The chairperson of the Munna Ndi Nnyi Men's Forum, Mr Bardwell Mufunwaini, said the abuse and attacks on women were uncalled for. "As men we are supposed to be the protectors and providers of our families. We should take care of our wives and children. Those who abuse women are not real men and should be locked up in jail where they belong," he said. He urged women to speak out on any form of abuse and not to wait until it was too late, with some ending up severely traumatised and others killed.

Thohoyandou police spokesperson Major Mashudu Malelo said that a 33-year-old man had been arrested in connection with the incident.

Date:11 July 2014

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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