Painful story to even read, let along think about. The stepdaughter of Nelson Mandela has become the latest victim of domestic violence as she admitted that her boyfriend reportedly beat her so bad that it left her blind in one eye. She’s since been more than willing to talk about it and be an advocate for any victims that may be going through what she went through, see how she talks about it all…
It’s been a tough year for Mandela family this year, going through many trials and tribulations, but like they say: we only fall to get right back up. Her name is Josina Machel, she’s the daughter of Graça Machel, She is the widow of former South African president Nelson Mandela. The whole tragic incident stemmed from the boyfriend, who can’t be named under South African law, becoming enraged when Ms. Machel wanted to spend the night at her mother’s house for her 70th birthday in October. “I wanted to be with my mother, we were going to celebrate her birthday the following day and so I just wanted to feel my mum around me. That is why I was so adamant about going home.” So her boyfriend verbally started to abuse her, he expressed his unhappiness about me wanting to go home,” she said. “They are just not words that I expected to hear from anyone. They were demeaning of any woman and of me.” In that moment the jerk started to beat her and she was in complete shock, she was in so much shock that she turned to ask him, “What?” and because she turned around thats how she got “… the second jab that blinded me, which ruptured the eye almost immediately. I felt the third one coming and that’s when I ran out of the car, ran away from him. While running away from her boyfriend, Machel screamed for help and at some point during the incident , tripped and blacked out. The next thing she remembered was waking up where doctors told her that the boyfriend’s punch ruptured her retina and that her vision may never come back. Machel cited a desire to honor her mother and Mandela as her my inspiration for wanting to speak out about the situation.
Machel decided to speak to 702/CapeTalk presenter Redi Tlhabi about the prevalence of domestic violence, the misconceptions of abuse and the stigma which confronts survivors. In the podcast she further elaborates, saying she’s speaking out about the incident to show that domestic violence affects all women, from all sectors of society. She says while men have the choice not to assault their partners, women have the choice to empower themselves by speaking out about the abuse, then continues by saying,
It has no race, no class, no social status, no education. We’re all just vulnerable to it… I was beaten once. I’ve never been beaten before – I will not allow this to happen again… I want to encourage each of us to make conscious choices, but not to be silent. Even if you decide to stay with your husband, you need to speak about it. That might be the one thing that will prevent you from being beaten again.
Here’s a link to the podcast of the show if you wish to hear her powerful words fully
Source: NY Daily News
