MATSULU – It’s been 17 years but the memory of the abuse she went through are still vivid in her mind. Ms Josephine Senamo (57) used to be an active young woman full of life and dreams but, as a result of domestic violence, she is now wheelchair bound.

Senamo told Mpumalanga News that after getting married to the love of her life whom she had met in Gauteng, all hell broke loose, but at that time she felt she had no choice but to stay.”A year after we got married, my husband had an affair and he started being abusive.

He would shout at me and beat me up for lousy things. He would beat me up and yell at me at the mall in front of other shoppers.”
She further said that the beatings only worsened until she left him in 1996.”When I thought it was over and I was almost over the separation, one dreadful night in 1998 he came to the house I was renting.

He started beating me up and dragged me into the street where he continued to beat and trample me.” While she was trying to run away from him, she said a car drove past and pulled over ahead of them.
“I ran to the car and as I was trying to explain to the occupants that I needed help, my husband shot at the car and seven bullets hit me. That is the reason why I’m sitting here today, unable to walk,” she remembered.

Senamo went on to say her husband was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison, but was released on parole in 2007 and threatened to finish her off. However, he died the following year.”I know that there are many women who are living in abusive relationships for many different reasons, but I want to tell them that no reason is good enough for any woman to be reduced to a punching bag.

The problem is that many ladies always hope that the spouse will eventually change, but the only time he’ll change is when you are down in your grave,” Senamo advised. “In the light of 16 Days Of No Violence Against Women and Children, I say run away and never look back.”

Her life has drastically changed and she wouldn’t wish such an experience on anyone, even the woman with whom her husband had an affair.”I tried many times to commit suicide, but I guess God has other plans for me because I’m still around after several attempts. I have forgiven my husband and the whole ordeal brought me closer to God,” she said, with a glow on her face.

The only pain that continues to haunt her is the fact that her family rejected her after the nightmare.”My own mother who used to tell me that I should never leave my husband because he had paid lobola for me, doesn’t want to see me today and it’s painful. No rejection is worse than rejection from one’s own mother,” she sobbed.

Today, her dentist, Dr Sebongile Sihlangu of Matsulu Medical Centre will donate a brand-new wheelchair to Senamo in honour of her strength and to also honour other victims of domestic abuse who managed to stand up and break the silence.

“It’s people like Sihlangu, my neighbours, church members and our caring government that give me hope,” she concluded, adding that she doesn’t desire to fall in love with any man again.