A Johannesburg-based police officer spent Women’s Day in hiding from her estranged spouse. She spoke to the publication on the condition of anonymity.
Joy Ndlovu*, whose mandate is to serve and protect South African citizens, lives in fear of being discovered by her abusive ex-husband. After a decade of marriage and three children later, the couple’s break-up was fraught with increasingly violent episodes of domestic abuse and bitter divorce proceedings that finally reached a climax last May.
In the early morning hours, on 15 May, Ndlovu and her children were sound asleep, not knowing that someone had set their Cosmo City home on fire.
“I woke up suddenly, feeling something was wrong, and I realised our home was burning,”
Policewoman on the run from ex-husband.
She quickly woke her children, and the family narrowly escaped the flames through the backdoor. “We stood outside watching as everything we owned was destroyed by the fire,” said Ndlovu.
Investigations later revealed that someone had broken the kitchen window from outside, and the fire was caused by a petrol or paraffin bomb. Terrified for their lives, Ndlovu and her children went into hiding after that fateful morning.
Over the next three months, investigations continued, and police had gathered enough evidence to arrest the suspect. Last Thursday, Maurice Masemola was arrested and charged with three counts of attempted murder and arson. He appeared at the Randburg Magistrates Court the following day, where he announced his intention to apply for bail.
Ndlovu’s violent handling by her spouse is a scathing indictment on South Africa’s already notorious reputation as one of the world’s most dangerous places for women and children.
Domestic violence cases escalated drastically during the first lockdown in March last year. During an address to the nation in June 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the country was battling two pandemics, the Coronavirus and violence against women and children.
“As a man, as a husband, and as a father, I am appalled at what is no less than a war being waged against the women and the children of our country,” President Ramaphosa, June 2020.
Ndlovu, who hasn’t been able to report for duty since the incident, said there is a silent stigma around domestic violence survivors, particularly in the justice cluster. “I was embarrassed to inform my captain about my circumstances,” she admitted.
If that wasn’t enough, Masemola “connections” in her precinct ensured months – if not years – of silence about her ongoing abuse. The fire was the last straw and the reason why Ndlovu was forced into hiding with her children.
“My children are terrified of him because they saw how their father changed in the past couple of years,” said Ndlovu.
Despite his arrest, Ndlovu is still fearful. “He wanted us dead, his children and me, and in my heart, I feel he won’t stop until he achieves his goal.”
*Not her real name
-The Citizen
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