Babes Wodumo video ‘a cry for help’
The Total Shutdown movement has commended musician Bongekile Simelane, best known as Babes Wodumo, for bravery in recording her assault.
The entertainer went live on Instagram on Sunday night, with the video showing her boyfriend Mandla Maphumulo, also known as Mampintsha, slapping Simelani multiple times.
Mampintsha has in the past been accused of physically assaulting Simelane.
Total Shutdown’s Lesly Ncube believes she risked a lot by going live on Instagram.
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"That was definitely a brave move from Babes Wodumo, it could have actually escalated. We don't even know if the situation escalated as soon Mampintsha found out, because him knowing that he's being outed as an abuser could escalate the violence."
Ncube says the video was a cry for help.
"That was her showing us what is actually happening behind closed doors. It is evident in that video that this has been an ongoing thing and she even knew that he was going to hit her, because it seems like even prior to her pressing the record button Mampintsha had already hit her because she kept questioning ‘why are you hitting me?’. She pressed the record button to show the world that this happens on a daily basis. ‘I need help, I need people to be behind me’ and we stand behind and we support her fully."
Ncube says awareness campaigns like 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children seem more like box-ticking exercise.
"It feels like some sort of pacifying tool. It's a checkbox. Like okay, there are these issues that are being faced by the world. Oh yeah, there's gender-based violence lets give is 16 days so that we can focus it on the world. It cannot be 16 days, we need a 365 days and 366 days on a leap year of full-blown campaigns in the fight against gender-based violence."
Ncube says these campaigns should be intersectional because not all women suffer from the same violence.
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