Woman tries to lay complaint of assault against Mandla Mandela

A FEMALE road construction worker is attempting to open a case of assault against Mandla Mandela after he allegedly assaulted her on Wednesday.

Amanda Liwani said she was assaulted by Mandela and a male friend in Qunu.

Liwani said she did not know it was Mandela at the time.

“This man came to me and opened the door of my vehicle and demanded my licence,” Liwani said.

“I refused and he pushed me aside and then took my driver’s licence and car keys. This happened at Qunu’s Sasol garage.”

Yesterday Mandela laughed off the allegation, saying the woman had run away instead of stopping after she bumped into his vehicle.

“There’s no way that I would act like that. She didn’t stop at the scene where she bumped into my vehicle and we had to follow her to the filling station . . . that we assaulted her is not true,” Mandela said.

On Wednesday afternoon Liwani said she was driving to buy airtime from the filling station when she saw two vehicles in front of her.

“The road was so narrow and I had to negotiate between them . . . there was this bus and apparently my mirror touched it and I didn’t notice. I would have stopped, but I drove to the filling station,” she said.

“He asked why I had bumped into his car and I told him I hadn’t noticed, but pointed out that they had parked in the middle of the road and I had to negotiate past them,” she said.

She said Mandela wanted to grab her car keys and when she refused he pushed her down and twisted her arm.

“He grabbed my licence and car keys, leaving me stranded there. The other man grabbed my leg as he dragged me from the vehicle,” she said.

She reported this to the Bityi police station where a station commander allegedly tried to dissuade her from opening a case. Instead he took her to Mandela.

“The officer said he had apologised on my behalf to Mandela and returned my keys and licence. I wasn’t happy with that because I feel I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Yesterday she returned to the police station to re-open the case and was given a form to take to a doctor.

“I hope they will open this case,” she said.

Mandela confirmed the incident but said Liwani had run away.

Mthatha police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mzukisi Fatyela also confirmed the incident, but said no case had yet been opened.