How a woman lost her job because of gender-based violence

Mpho’s 15-year long successful career in advertising and marketing came to a grinding halt because of gender-based violence (GBV).

This after she ran out of lies to tell her employer about why she was always sick on a Monday.

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“I could never go to work on Mondays because the swelling was too much and the bruises showed,” said Mpho.

“I went from successful career woman to a zero, because I was eventually fired from my job.”

She was too afraid to say anything to her employer, too scared to speak out anywhere. She became an emotional prisoner of her abuser.

Two days ago, after an intervention, she arrived at Tshegofatso community organisation with nothing. It followed a horrific incident of abuse.

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“It was in a park and he started beating me with an electric cord, the plug end hitting me in the face, throat and neck,” she shared. “I had to get away from him.”

She endured beatings like clockwork before that, she said. Almost every fortnight.

Mpho spent two years in a relationship with her abuser. “I fell in with the wrong crowd and did not realise it at the time.

I met him, ended up in a relationship with him and the consequences of my actions were dire,” she said.

Mpho left her abuser 14 times, she said, but went back to him again and again in the hope that things would change. It didn’t.

“His family asked me not to report it, not to go to the authorities, because it would bring shame to their family,” she said. When she arrived at the shelter, Cynthia Dinalane counselled her.

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“She took me in, asked me to tell my story. There was no judgment, only empathy and kindness, and that is what I needed,” she said.

“It’s only been two days but the relief of not having to face his hand again, that is enormous.”

Her former partner has no idea where she is, and she plans to keep it that way. She said that she wants to work towards an opportunity to start again, to have a new lease on life.

“I am left with nothing, no job, no prospects, I don’t even know how to restart my life, right now,” said Mpho.

“I am not sure if I have the confidence to take the first step, but I will get there.”

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