Babes Wodumo abuse claims shock nation
Political parties are quick to align themselves against violence on women, but they need to take a closer look at their members’ history
BONGEKILE Simelane aka Babes Wodumo, 24, exploded on to the music scene in the winter of 2016, quickly elevating her status to national treasure.
But this week Simelane, as we’ll refer to her, made headlines not for her music but for the manner in which she exposed her alleged abuser.
In the early hours of Monday morning, those who follow Simelane’s
antics on Instagram received a notification of a video broadcast she was sharing with the world.
That video is now Exhibit A in the assault complaint brought by Simelane against her boyfriend Mandla “Mampintsha” Maphumulo, 36, who was seen by thousands of her followers allegedly assaulting the star.
According to reports, Maphumulo has known Simelane since she was at least 15 and they have been dating since she was 17.
Hours after the video was broadcast and subsequently deleted from Simelane’s Instagram feed, social media went into a tailspin as South Africans expressed outrage and politicians called for swift action.
For the first time, violence against women and children will be a major campaign issue.
While all parties have condemned violence against women and children, their responses to offenders in their own ranks have been mixed.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane stood out among responders, challenging Maphumulo to a fist fight in a boxing ring.
“Men need to stand up strongly. That’s why I want Mampintsha to come to a boxing ring and let him pick on someone his own size, I’d like to take him on,” he said.
The DA’S election manifesto addresses gender-based violence.
“We believe there needs to be a focus on the primary prevention of abuse, violence and murder rather than a sole reliance on the use of the criminal justice system.
MP Archibald Figlan, despite being found guilty by the DA of sexual harassment in 2015, is still a member.
After a game of cat-and-mouse with the SAPS, Maphumulo eventually appeared in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court, wearing a hoodie, while journalists snapped pictures with smartphones before proceedings started.
Later in the day, radio station Ukhozi FM interviewed Maphumulo and he shifted the blame for his violent reaction to Simelane.
Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa on Twitter expressed his shock at the alleged violent assault on Simelane and had called for Maphumulo’s arrest.
Mthethwa might want to forget that at the ANC’S manifesto launch in Durban in January, Arthur Mafokate, who is on trial for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, was invited to the VIP area at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
And the ANC Women’s League that is now calling for Maphumulo’s music to be banned from the radio, stood by then ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma in 2006, with some members abusing his rape accuser and saying “she should feel lucky to have been raped by such a handsome man”.
Of gender-based violence, the ANC states in its manifesto it believes in a “multi-sectoral approach that responds to the need to step up the fight against gender-based violence and strengthen broader interventions that address the causes and effects of such violence, particularly issues of patriarchy, economic relations and changing the way of thinking about gender relations”.
The ANC’S former Western Cape chairperson, and once deputy minister of international relations and co-operation Marius Fransman was suspended from the party for five years in 2016 for sexually harassing a young woman.
Recently the ANC’S spokesperson, Pule Mabe, was cleared by the party of sexually harassing his personal assistant while the party’s head of the presidency, Zizi Kodwa, took voluntary leave from after being accused of rape.
No case has been opened against Kodwa. The EFF was accused of misogyny this week after it attacked journalist Karima Brown for daring to ask her reporters at ENCA to pose questions of the party’s leadership at a planned press event. EFF leader Julius Malema tweeted her number, unleashing a torrent of abuse from his supporters including threats of rape against Brown. That is now the subject of a criminal complaint and has been roundly condemned.
According to the EFF’S manifesto it will fight violence against women by “education against patriarchy and sexism, complemented by legislation to protect and promote women’s liberation”. Babes Wodumo would never have thought she would become the flashpoint for a debate on patriarchy and gender-based violence, but this year she’s making headlines not for her music but for taking a stance and forcing introspection among leaders. But she too faces a charge of assault for allegedly beating a woman in Umbilo on Monday night.