DURBAN - A MAN is being sought for allegedly assaulting a woman on-board a Pietermaritzburg minibus taxi.
The incident was recorded on a cellphone by a fellow passenger and circulated on social media. Authorities are also urging the woman to come forward and open a criminal charge against the man. Both are unidentified.
In the video, a caption explained that the woman and a friend had been travelling from Pietermaritzburg and they appeared inebriated. In the video clip, the man is seen kneeling in the seat in front of the woman. He was punching her repeatedly, while her friend, seated next to her, can be heard screaming “no, no, no”.
“Do you know me? Do you know me?” repeats the man as he lands punches on the woman before pointing his index finger at the woman’s friend instructing her to be quiet.
Before the woman gets up from her beating, lashing out with her hands at the man, he tells her not to mess with him as she did not know him.
The two then get into a scuffle and the man manages to pin her down in her seat while the taxi is still moving.
“Driver, driver, I am going to kill this dog,” says the man as he pins the woman down.
The taxi comes to a halt. The driver opens the passenger door. The woman hurls profanities at the man calling him a woman beater who “fights with girls”.
Before the video ends the woman’s friend holds the man back to prevent him from further assaulting her friend. The taxi driver asks the woman to get off. She refuses, saying she had paid the fare.
Both the Department of Social Development and the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) on Sunday called on the woman to lay charges against the man.
Santaco spokesperson Sfiso Shangase said no one had the right to lay a hand on another no matter what they had done.
“This must be reported to the police.”
Social Development spokesperson Mhlaba Memela said the department was disgusted by the actions of the man.
“Nothing can justify such actions from a man regardless of confrontations. The department expects men to be exemplary at all times to fight the scourge of gender-based violence.
“The department had signed a memorandum of understanding with Santaco to ensure that such distasteful incidents do not happen in their businesses.
“We call on the victim to open a case against the perpetrator. Police have to trace this man and arrest him immediately. He has to answer in a court of law for his actions against a defenceless woman.”
Daily News