Social media influencer Kefilwe Mabote attempted to commit suicide before fleeing her marital home to lodge at a place of safety after allegedly being beaten up by her then husband.
Mabote also suspected that the husband could poison her or hire hitmen to murder her as their domestic violence squabbles escalated.
News that Mabote, fondly known in the entertainment orbit as Kefiboo, was a victim of gender-based violence came to the fore when she appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday, where she faced off with her former husband over the custody of a child.
The shocking titbits should put paid to rumours spread by information peddlers that Mabote was never married in her life and that she claimed to have been wed for clout and to elevate her social media profile.
Before their ongoing custody battle, Mabote obtained a protection order against the man, whom we cannot name for legal reasons, at the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court after they separated.
She alleged that the first time he laid a hand on her was during an argument when he shoved her against the wall and grabbed her by the throat.
“Our first argument led him to strangle my neck behind the wall (sic),” she stated in the protection order.
Mabote said her former husband assaulted her when she did not tell him that she suspected that she was being followed by criminals.
“He decided to beat me up because when I got home, I did not call him,” she said in the order. She said that during the assault, she fought back in self-defence.
Mabote said he beat her up again when they were at a Joburg club when she asked him why he was sitting next to a gay man.
The model said the former husband almost bumped her off when he attacked her with a screwdriver.
“He almost killed me with a screwdriver to give him his and my car and go away without any of my personal belongings (sic),” reads her submission for the court order.
The man had also countered her application for the protection order by filing for his own protection order against Mabote, claiming that she tried to kill him by lacing food that he had kept in a fridge in their house with poison.
He also alleged that Mabote also tried to attack him with a pair of scissors and had hired people to kill him.
However, the porcelain-skinned belle poked holes in his application and it was subsequently dismissed by the court.
“I had deposed to the fact that, inter alia, the applicant had beaten, strangled, and shoved me behind the wall.
“Furthermore, it is evident from the terms of the protection order that I obtained that I had requested the applicant refrain from poisoning me or instructing anyone to assist him to murder me.
“This illustrates the fact that he simply copied and pasted my allegations directly onto his application.
“As a direct result of both the ongoing emotional, physical, and mental abuse I suffered at the hands of the applicant, I attempted to take my own life,” she stated in the papers.
Mabote alleges the former husband has on numerous occasions physically and verbally attacked her.
“The applicant physically attacked me when I told him that I would be leaving him.
“During one instance, when he physically attacked me, I suffered injuries to my chest area.
“I attended my doctor at the time who examined me, and his report confirmed that I indeed did suffer injuries to my chest (sic),” Mabote stated in the affidavit.
She said that the former husband fabricated the allegations on his application for a protection order against her in a desperate bid to portray her as an unfit mother and keep her away from her child.
Mabote denied that she -assaulted him and made threats to kill the former husband.
“Furthermore, I deny that I allegedly attempted to kill the applicant by employing certain persons to come to the applicant’s place of residence and instructing those persons to assault and kill the applicant.
“At no point have I ever assaulted the applicant, nor have I ever chased him with scissors in an attempt to stab and kill him,” she stated in the court papers.
Mabote also sneezed at his clams that she tried to -poison him.
“No medical nor laboratory test was ever conducted on the alleged substance that I had poured into the fridge, which caused them to vomit uncontrollably, to substantiate this frivolous allegation,” she stated in the papers.
Mabote has attached to the court papers a letter from Wonderful Women Ministries chairperson, Nicole Campos Real, welcoming her as a guest on their premises.
The letter reads in part: “This letter serves as confirmation that Kefilwe Mabote is a guest at the Wonderful Women Ministries healing and restoration home for abused women and children.
“She has come to us seeking counsel and healing. She has experienced previous physical abuse from her husband as well.
“She fears for her life, hence filing for a restraining order against her husband.
“She is suffering from emotional abuse and misses her children very much.
“Kefilwe has no other accommodation and therefore has chosen to live at our home for women, “reads Real’s letter. Mabote’s ex-husband promised to respond to our questions but failed to do so at the time of going to print.
“I have no comment for now, I will comment later after speaking to my lawyers,” said Mabote.
