Man who beat woman with spanner ‘must rot in jail’‚ says Mbalula

Minister of police Fikile Mbalula has called the actions of a 30-year-old man who was filmed beating a woman with a spanner "shameful and disgusting".

Mbalula released a statement on the attack by Khombela “Dj Khomza” Nthleko‚ saying the law should act harshly against the man.

Police spokesperson Kay Makhubela confirmed that Nthleko was arrested on charges of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and domestic violence.

“The accused appeared at the Tembisa Magistrate’s Court on Monday‚” said Makhubela.

In the video the man can be seen hitting a woman over the head nine times with what looks like a spanner. The woman is facing downwards and bleeding.

“The actions of Khombela are shameful and disgusting. No one should act like that towards women or any person. We will continue to act harshly against those who abuse and dehumanise women and children who are the most vulnerable people in our society. I condemn those callous actions in the strongest terms and believe the law will act swiftly on Khombela‚” Mbalula said.

In the statement Mbalula said that Nthleko “must rot in jail and be held responsible for his actions”.

Twitter users who commented on the post accused Mbalula of double standards when it comes to condemning violence against women.

The video‚ which received a million views on Facebook and was shared over nine-thousand times‚ was posted by the victim’s friend‚ Thandeka Ndlovu‚ who was with her on what she labelled a “traumatic night”.

The woman was hospitalised and is “better than yesterday”‚ according to Ndlovu who visited her in hospital on Monday.

Ndlovu told TimesLIVE that the accused assaulted both her and her friend at the Slotjhile pub and shisanyama‚ in Tembisa.

She claimed that the bouncers at the pub did not help them when the man was attacking them.

“At some point he forced her to go into his car‚ the police came and an ambulance. The people at the garage were just watching too. I fear for our lives because he is well known and told us that the police won’t do anything to him‚” Ndlovu told TimesLIVE.

Lisa Vetten‚ senior researcher and policy analyst at Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre to end Violence against Women‚ says that violence against women is continuing because perpetrators often get away with it.

“There is nothing private about domestic violence; this is exactly what makes people feel they can get away with abuse. In such incidents people are watching over and doing nothing because they are socialised to think that domestic violence is something you don’t intervene‚ you even see it in our legal system.

‘Sometimes victims are turned away and advised to only lay a protection charge only if there are multiple incidents of abuse and not just once. Abuse has been normalised in our society and no specific legal protection is provided for the victims‚” said Vetten.