Former MEC accused of assaulting wife

The Domestic Violence Court in Pretoria heard yesterday how a former Gauteng MEC ignored a protection order and attacked his estranged wife - ANC deputy chief whip in the Gauteng provincial legislature - in their Pretoria home.

Former housing MEC Dan Mofokeng, pleaded not guilty to six charges, including assaulting his wife, Jacqui, threatening to kill her daughter and threatening to kick their 60-year-old domestic worker until she "urinated herself".

Mofokeng is out on R1000 bail and the couple is in the middle of a divorce. It is alleged that Mofokeng sent his wife an SMS, telling her he wanted to fetch his clothes from their home in Irene on the afternoon of February 24 last year.

When he arrived, he allegedly argued with the domestic worker over a key to a door leading to their bedroom.

Testifying yesterday, Jacqui Mofokeng said she was on the phone to her lawyer about her husband's SMS when she heard him shouting at the domestic worker.

Jacqui Mofokeng said she then left the bedroom without hanging up and went to find out what was happening in the kitchen.

She testified that Mofokeng then called her a b***h, slapped her in the face and tried to hit her again.

She told the court that he then hit her against the wall and "threw me to the floor and kicked me".

She added that at the time of the attack, Mofokeng's companion, who had accompanied him to the house, was taking pictures of the house and intervened. She also said that she hit her back against the door handle and was bruised.

Mofokeng's lawyer, Lehlohonolo Adonisi, said Jacqui Mofokeng's account was a "fabrication", and said his client did not contravene the protection order since there was nowhere where it stated that he should first get her permission before going to their house.

"All it says is that he should give her notice." He also produced a medical report, which allegedly contradicted her claims that she was injured.

During his testimony yesterday, Mofokeng said his wife's response to his SMS was that she was not at home and she claimed to have changed the locks. He said the domestic worker gave him the key to the bedroom.

He said he had to force the door open and when he did, "I found her lying on the floor".