A Pretoria mother of two is picking up the pieces after her boyfriend and father of one of her children allegedly torched her shack over the weekend. It followed a violent domestic fight. The man has been arrested and charged with arson.
The attack comes as the country is set to kick start the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children.
This is an all too familiar story in South Africa, a woman and her children suffering at the hands of a man.
“I managed to run away and went to my grandparents’ place. I took the kids with and less than 30 minutes, the neighbours came and told me my house is burning down. I lost everything, the furniture, my id’s, my school certificates, everything burned down. There is nothing I took.”
Labasa says she often suffered abuse by her boyfriend but held out hope that he would change. “He will tell me that there is no other man that will have me besides him. It’s either him or there is no other way.”
Neighbour Sello Mashishi says; “One day I’ve seen this abuse because they called me, he was holding the baby threatening to drop him on the floor when he was fighting with the mother. I tried to stop him and he tried to run away with the baby.”
While charges have been pressed against the man, according to a local gender activist it is an emotional scar for women abused by a loved one.
“ It is terrible to be abused by somebody that you cared for, somebody that you come back and lock the doors and think that you are safe. Whereas the actual animal is sleeping next to you,” says Gender Activist Moshe Mathe.
South Africa has the dubious distinction of having some of the highest numbers of abused of women and children in the world.
