Award-winning gospel musician Xoliswa Kwinana was arrested on Wednesday by the police after his estranged wife opened a case of assault with grievous bodily harm against him in Cape Town.
Kwinana’s estranged wife Ndikhona Hlatika opened the case two years after he allegedly spat on her face and assaulted her on separate occasions in a series of gender-based violence episodes in their marital home between 2021 and 2022.
She opened the case after separating from him and obtaining a protection order against the singer last year.
In the protection order, which she obtained at Wynberg, Cape Town, in January last year,
Hlatika said the gospel musician assaulted her when she was three months pregnant.
She said she sustained injuries to her arm and face during the alleged incident.
“It all started [in 2021, but I remember very well the night he smacked me while I was pregnant. I done (sic) it again while I was pregnant, and I ran to a shelter because the following day he acted like nothing happened,” Hlatika stated in the order.
She said that after assaulting her, Kwinana would shout at her as if he were the victim.
Hlatika alleged that Kwinana beat her up again the following week, and she bolted out of their home to his grandmother’s crib to seek help.
In her application for the protection order, the victim was asked if the artist was on drugs. She responded that she had no idea, but said Kwinana often indulged in the nectar of the gods.
“He is not on drugs, not that I know of, but he drinks wine,” she stated.
Asked what she feared would happen to her if she did not get the protection order, she responded that the artist would bump her off.
“He is capable of killing me, because he apologised and said he didn’t know what got into him. Clearly, he is capable of killing me,” Hlatika stated.
She said she needed the order because she did not have a brother or sister who could protect her from the singer.
“My father passed away at a young age. My mom is so kind and forgiving,” she stated.
Hlatika also alleged that the muso was also emotionally, financially and psychologically abusive towards her.
“He is a narcissist. He has spat in my face before, broken my phone and called me names.
“He has called me a foolish wife,” she stated.
Anti-gender-based violent activist, Nosipho Daniels of Malihambe Women Outreach, said Hlatika approached them and told them her ordeal.
Malihambe Women Outreach then took Hlatika to the police to open a case against the singer on July 3.
Daniels said that through her foundation’s intervention, Kwinana was turned in to the police by his lawyers on Tuesday.
He was arrested and taken to court, where he was released on bail.
Hlatika took to social media about a month ago and alleged that Kwinana physically abused her.
But the artist, who belongs to the gospel hybrid, Spirit of Praise, rubbished her claims, saying he had not laid his hands on her and that the injuries she paraded on social media were sustained during a car crash.
