SHARON SCREAMS like a trapped animal as she is attacked with fists, feet and sjamboks.
But her cries are not just about pain. It is about humiliation and being stripped of her human dignity.
I AM POOR BUT I DON’T HAVE TO BE BEATEN FOR IT, SHE SAID.
The video that shows Sharon Mkhonto (30) from Lillydale in Mpumalanga being dragged from her mud hut and mercilessly beaten on Sunday, is the last chapter in a humiliating kasi fight that has been going on for some time.
On Saturday, Sharon couldn’t take it anymore.
She got into a fight with a woman who lives not far from her house.
She said the woman had called her all sorts of names and insulted her in public.
“She told me I smell bad and that I’m poor,” said Sharon.
Sharon is an unemployed single mother and lives alone.
“Yes, I live in a mud hut with a grass roof but I deserve to be treated like a human being.”
She said she got into an argument which ended up in a fight, which she won.
She told the SunTeam she thought it was over but it wasn’t.
The next day the woman was back with three men and another woman. The two women were armed with sjamboks.
She said she was at her neighbour’s place when her attackers arrived.
“I was doing my hair.”
When they started attacking her she ran into her neighbour’s house but they followed her.
“I thought I was going to die,” said the mother of two.
“I thought of my children. We are struggling now. How would they manage if I was dead?”
She said she was dragged outside, where the beating continued.
“They pulled up my skirt and my private parts could be seen. I was so humiliated. I’m ashamed of going out in public. Everybody knows me naked now,” she said.
“When I look at the video, I still cry.”
The video started doing the rounds on social media on Tuesday.
In the video four people can be seen beating Sharon. The two women are hitting her with sjamboks, the men kicking her anywhere on her body, including her face. The women can be heard swearing at her.
Sharon said the third guy took the video.
“The third guy told them he was tired of beating and they told him to take a video,” she said. “The woman I fought with is wearing a white hat.”
Calcutta police spokesman Captain Phillip Fakude confirmed that a case of grievous bodily harm had been opened.
“Two women aged 27 and 30, and a 16-year-old were arrested. The 16-year-old was released into parental care,” he said.
The two women appeared at Mkhuhlu Magistrates Court on Tuesday but were denied bail.
“They will appear again in the same court on Monday.”
He said the other two male suspects were still at large and the police are looking for them.
Phillip said such acts were not acceptable and the police and the community were shocked.
