A 25-year-old woman is seeking justice for an alleged attack she survived after she rejected a man’s advances in Khayelitsha’s Town Two last year.
Nikita Kalubi lost an eye after the attack on Saturday August 26.
She said she was walking with her boyfriend around midday when the alleged attacker approached her and started catcalling and touching her inappropriately.
“I was coming from Mowbray with my boyfriend and his two friends. We were going to buy some vetkoek to eat as we were going to visit other friends. When we arrived at the place that sells vetkoek, there was this guy who was harassing me and touching me and saying things like he wanted me, he liked me.”
Ms Kalubi said her boyfriend intervened and asked the man to stop what he was doing. The attacker seemed to listen and walked away. She then carried on with her boyfriend as the other two friends went their separate way.
“As we went, we bumped into this man again, walking with his hands behind him. We thought he was not going to do anything as we had told him to walk away. The next he hit me in the face and I fell down. My boyfriend said I collapsed because I don’t remember what happened after I was hit. I woke up at Khayelitsha day hospital”.
Ms Kalubi said she was transferred to Tygerberg Hospital. She was told her left eye was severely damaged and had to be removed.
Ms Kalubi is now trying to bring the perpetrator to book.
She was accompanied by members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to Lingelethu West police station in Khayelitsha a fortnight ago to demand an update on the case.
“We are here to find more information about the case. Right now I am feeling hopeless because it seems like the police are not willing to do anything regarding this case. At some point I feel like just giving up and moving on with my life as it is, but I keep on thinking that if I give up something like this will happen again,” said Ms Kalubi.
She said the support she has received from the community and her family has given her strength. After undergoing surgery she now has an artificial eye.
Linda Mazwi, an EFF councillor, was among those who were present at Lingelethu West police station. She said she believes police in black communities are failing people and don’t prioritise gender-based violence (GBV) cases.
“We are fighting GBV everyday, Lingelethu West police station is serving a place like Litha Park, and there is a lot of gender-based violence in Litha Park, and there are a lot of single women residing in Litha park. When it comes to the Nikita case, we feel like police are failing us. But after today’s engagement with the police, after six months, we feel like there is (hope). And we hope that it won’t be Nikita only who comes forward, and we call all GBV organisations to unite and not be politically aligned to fight GBV because we are suffering as women.”
Lingelethu West police spokesperson Sergeant Xoliswa Nyalambisa said she has requested an update on the case and will keep the family informed.