The guardian of late Kwaito veteran Nomasonto “Mshoza” Maswanganyi’s daughter has lodged a police complaint of assault after the young girl was allegedly beaten in class.
The girl whose name cannot be mentioned due to her age, is currently recovering at home after being beaten black and blue by a fellow Grade 10 learner from the Christian Progressive College in Tshwane.
Since her mom died in 2020, the daughter has been under the care of the singer’s sister, Seipati Ngele. Mshoza’s son lives with his father, businessman Jacob Mnisi, in Mpumalanga.
Class action
According to Ngele, the 17-year-old had her feet up on her desk when the male classmate told her to remove them from the table.
“He is not in her class, and he is not a prefect, but he told her to remove her feet from the table. When she refused, he became angry,” said Ngele.
“He then pushed her against the wall and continued to punch, kick, and slap her while other children tried to stop him.”
The principal is said to have been called by learners to calm the situation.
“The principal took the two kids into his office. They spoke, and he concluded that the girl provoked the boy to a point that he became angry and hit her. No one was suspended, and when I called, he said the matter would be handled internally. He apparently asked that the school CCTV footage be deleted, but learners did take videos.”
Criminal charge laid
Following the disappointing response from the school, Ngele rushed to the police station to open a case of assault.
“I am still waiting for the case number from the police. They wrote a statement, but an arrest can’t be made because he is a minor.”
Ngele said the Kortes singer’s daughter has been struggling to sleep for the past two nights.
“She is bruised and swollen. We took her to the doctor, and she received painkillers. The child is traumatised,” she said.
“During the ordeal, he kept talking about my late sister and that she was dead and left a slut.
In a video of the incident made available to Sunday World, the boy is hitting, punching, and kicking the girl. He goes on to say he will not be disrespected by a girl.
“That is why your mother died and left you—you slut!”
One story; two versions
The school’s principal, Mutsai Makore, narrated a different version of events, saying both learners were in the wrong. He advised all parents to attend a disciplinary hearing.
“The girl’s parents refused to attend the meeting,” Makore said during an interview with Sunday World.
“We first engaged the students to find out what happened. Then we conducted an investigation among other learners who were present during the incident. We then brought both learners to speak, and they apologised to each other,” Makore said.
“During the session, we learned that the girl is the one who started the fight. She hit the boy first, then went to the bathroom and came back, and hit him again. She swore at him about his mother thereafter, which aggravated him even more, and he fought back.”
The principal said they do not condone violence of any sort at the school.
“Both learners went against our school’s code of conduct. There are measures we have to take before escalating the matter to a level of police involvement, especially for minors.”
Maswanganyi was married to businessman Jacob Mnisi in 2007; they had two children: a daughter (17) and a son (14). They, however, later divorced.
She passed away at 37 years old on 19 November 2020 after reportedly suffering complications related to diabetes.
