‘Not every fight is GBV’

ACTIVISTS: WARNING ON DANGER OF BRANDING ALL ALTERCATIONS AS SUCH

Man arrested for assaulting wife was allegedly attacked by the woman and her friends.

Activists have warned about the dangers of branding every altercation as gender-based violence as it emerged that the woman caught on a video being attacked by a teacher, the father of her child, brought her sister and friends to attack him in his house.

In the video, Thomas Jabu Manana, a maths teacher and choir conductor at Silamba Secondary School in KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga, can be seen attacking a woman lying on the ground with a wooden pole as she tried to block the blows with her hands.

The teacher, who has since been released on bail, is then seen kicking the woman in the face after the pole was taken away from him by another woman trying to stop him from the continued attack.

According to a neighbour, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, about 10 women arrived in at least three cars on Thursday as a heated argument between Manana, 34, and the 24-year-old mother of his child ensued.

“The other women were also screaming and insulting him in front of his children and wife… It is a pity the video only showed the part where he is assaulting the woman. What he did is wrong, but also no one will allow to be insulted in their own home. Maybe he should have called the police,” the neighbour said.

Not In My Name, a civil rights and gender-based violence activist organisation, welcomed the arrest of the teacher for his actions but warned against branding