MAMFUNDISI Sindiswa Keva is calling on women to run for their lives and leave abusive relationships.
She was speaking at a prayer event against gender-based violence hosted by Abathunywa Ministers Fraternity in Gugulethu on Saturday, 25 September.
The event was organised after Gugulethu woman Jacqueline Mpontsane (40) was doused in petrol and set alight, allegedly by her boyfriend. She later died of her injuries.
“She’s no longer alive. She stayed, but she died. That’s why we are saying get out of these places alive. You can’t persevere towards your own death. Run with your life. If he can assault you and say sorry afterwards, he’s not your man. He’s a monster,” said Mamfundisi.
Jacqueline’s gruesome murder shocked people across the kasi. Nandipha Vayisi (44) told Daily Sun: “I have never seen anything like it. You cannot set alight a person you claim to love. Why did he burn her like a snake? I’m still in shock. Men will do anything just to hurt women.”
Mamfundisi said it was sad that the same hands used to embrace women harmed them.
“No one deserves to die. No one deserves to be killed. As a woman, you don’t deserve to be injured and no one has the right to harm you,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter what position a man has in society, he doesn’t own you and must not abuse you.”
The woman of God said she was also concerned about the attitude some mothers had towards their daughters’ relationships. She said if an abuser provided for them, mothers encouraged their daughters to stay in abusive relationships.
“We are sending children to university but they come back in body bags. It cannot go on like this,” she said.