Cops have arrested the Durban man who was caught on camera assaulting his pregnant girlfriend when she found him with his
jolmeit.
Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbhele said the 26-year-old Durbanite appeared at the Verulam Magistrate's Court on Monday, charged with assault and contravention of a protection order.
The couple cannot be identified due to the protection order, reports The Mercury.
The incident, which happened at a Mount Edgecombe Shopping Centre, has come to light as the country observes 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children.
In the video, the woman confronts the man and his stukkie, asking him why he was hiding the fact that she was pregnant.
The jolmeit confesses to being married, and says her husband knows she is jolling.
The pregnant woman threatens to call the man’s work to tell them she’s pregnant, and the next moment he grabs her by her hair and starts punching her.
She is bent over and holds on to the other woman, who also has her head down before the video ends abruptly.
Voices can be heard in the background shouting “haibo” as the pregnant woman is hit with punches to her face and head. Other bystanders look on from a distance.
Palesa Mpata, the spokesperson for People Opposing Women Abuse (Powa), said one of the reasons gender-based violence was so rife in South Africa was because people turned a blind eye.
Unacceptable
“People sit back and say ‘If it’s not happening to me, it’s not my problem’. That’s unacceptable,” she said.