Hit TV show The Masked Singer judge Sithelo Shozi has not given up her fight for justice against her former partner Andile Mpisane.
Shozi’s online petition to the judiciary and the police to have a permanent protection order against Mpisane had garnered more than 56 000 signatures by Friday.
The petition was started by the media personality on the Change.org website in August 2022 after she accused the father of her children of abuse.
The petition reads: “I was in a two-and-a-half-year relationship with the father of my children, and we have two beautiful daughters and a son together. While in the relationship, I was beaten mercilessly and consistently.
“I did the best I could, and stayed silent, but now I feel that I have been through enough. I feel that I have been abused and pushed far enough by the father of my children.”
Shozi said Mpisane beat her up even when she was carrying his baby.
“The father of my children beat me to a pulp while I was pregnant with our last child, and I had to wait three days to find out if my baby would survive,” she says in the petition.
The media personality, who is also a deejay, has a link to the petition on her Instagram page which has close to a million followers.
In the petition, she adds that the last straw was when Mpisane requested DNA tests for the young child.
“The last draw was when the father of the children started questioning the paternity of our last child – after everything that I silently withstood.
“My children are far too young to live with a mother who is being bullied, intimidated and still facing abuse. I am a human being too, and this kind of abuse has gone on for too long. I want freedom and justice.”
She stated that she started the petition to appeal to the judiciary and the police to grant her a protection order.
“Whilst this will put me against a powerful, well-connected and wealthy individual, I am also a person with rights and my children deserve a fighting chance. I deserve a chance to be free too, to have the justice system of South Africa protect a woman and a mother, to protect me.
“I don’t want to be one of the statistics – a number – or one of the women who die at the hands of a man, like many women do in this country.
“I don’t want cries for ‘Justice for Sithelo’ when my body lies dead and cold. I want to live. I need protection. Please sign my petition.”
Mpisane has in the past kept mum about the allegations of abuse and assault.
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