On Saturday morning, South Africans stumbled upon a disturbing video on Facebook.
It was a familiar face covered in dry blood. When they pressed play, the voice too was known.
Drenched in blood, Dimpie Dimpopo, real name Nadeem Poen, had gone live on Facebook to talk about how the people you know are the ones who are most likely to hurt you the most.
Unlike all the car videos that turned him into a social media sensation, this one did not have his famous line – “Oh Nkosi yam, oreng mood-I”.
Speaking in Afrikaans, the emotional Dimpie was sharing the story of how he was beaten with a cricket bat on his right eyebrow.
Two days later, Dimpie was still in pain, noting that he woke up with his right eye completely closed and still painful.
He tells Drum that he was unfortunate to have been at the wrong place, at the wrong time.
“We were chilling at a friends’, and you know us young people, we move from one place to another, so we then moved to Kliptown. Kliptown is where I grew up and I’ve been going for years. While we were chilling, listening to music, there was a fight at the house back opposite where we were and because of the noise, the guy came out to us, and his lady also came out from their yard after their fight.”
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Dimpie adds that the guy was so drunk that he caused a scene when he got to them and when he asked him about settling a debt, he had accumulated from their dealings, it aggravated him more than he was already.
“Before I knew it, there was a bat involved. That’s the only thing I know. I think everyone ducked the bat but because I have a problem with my eye[sight], I think I saw it last minute and he shapa’d (beat) me with a bat [before I could duck it myself].”
Despite the unfortunate incident, Dimpie insists that he knows that this guy is a good guy and would not intentionally hurt him, hence why he has backed down from opening a criminal case against him.
“He was just under the influence and the more we tried to stop him, the more he wanted to impress, I think, or wanted to make a statement. One of his family members even pleaded with us to let him be because he apparently likes to fight.”
As the chaos ensued after the attack, police vans came but couldn’t find him after the chase. Although he then proceeded to the nearby police station to open a case, he was talked out of it but was still a little adamant about it.
After driving himself to the hospital in that state, he got four stitches just above his eye, two injections and had to process the fact that he might not be able to grow back his eyebrow.
On his way back home around 5am, still covered in blood, he then went live.
“The way my heart was so sore, I went live. I don’t even know where I got the data from because I know when I’m home, there’s Wi-Fi.”
While many people around him reached out to check up on him, some told him that he should start being careful of the people he hangs around with in the new year.
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Sad that this happened in the Soweto township in which he grew up, he says the incident got him thinking a lot because he had to cancel his commitments of shooting content for a barber brand that he’s collaborating with, working with an insurance company and being a guest on a particular podcast because of his injury.
He adds that he has no time to attend court for the matter so will not be going back to the police station to open a case.
If anything, he wants to direct his time and energy to working on his content creation, music, acting and stand-up comedy.
“I have ventured into the film industry, reached out to agencies and then music, I’m trying to make the last few songs. I will most probably drop something within this year and then stand-up comedy is one of the biggest platforms that I’m planning to venture into that’s why I’m planning to surround myself with a lot of people [in that industry] just for some guidance and support.”
The 28-year-old wants to turn the incident into a positive situation for himself as he intends to motivate people to be aware and careful of their surroundings and the people, they spend time with, given the number of youngsters who have been attacked and killed in the township recently.
