MP punched me for dumping him - lover

NATIONAL Council of Provinces member and former executive mayor of Moqhaka municipality, Jihad Mohapi Mohapi, has been charged with assault after he allegedly rained blows on his lover when she pulled the plug on their affair.

The married ANC provincial executive member in the Free State apparently blew his top when 32-year-old Maphokwane Moseki, who is also married, dumped him two weeks ago.

In an alleged fit of rage, he punched and slapped Moseki in front of a relative's house and later by a graveyard.

He is yet to be questioned by police because he told them he would see them when he returns from parliament in Cape Town, according to Moseki.

Mohapi, 43, is chairman of the select committee on cooperative governance and traditional affairs in the national legislature.

The complainant's sworn statement submitted to the police in Maokeng, Kroonstad, and seen by Sowetan states that she got several calls from her former lover on the evening of Friday February 6 asking for her whereabouts, after she had dumped him the previous day.

"I kept telling him that he must stop calling me hence there was no longer a relationship between me and him. I also told him on Thursday February 5 that I do not love him anymore because of his many or [sic] extramarital affairs or relationships. Seemingly he did not take good account of it and pursued finding me," the statement reads.

Mohapi allegedly managed to contact her at a relative's place and spoke to her from his Volvo parked outside the yard.

Mohapi "suspected" that Moseki was brought there by a man and started assaulting her with "clenched fist several times for a long time and when he realised that people would see what he was doing, he decided to drive from the scene to another scene".

When they got near a cemetery a struggle for her cellphone ensued and he continued to beat her, according to the statement.

"I have a rape case pending and he insults me about it and that I'm sefebe se kotuwang ke banna ba bangata [a whore who sleeps with a lot of men]."

Sowetan saw pictures of Moseki's injuries where she had bruises on her left upper arm, on both her breasts, her collar region, her left thigh and a blue eye.

A source close to the investigation said the two had been "dating on and off since 2009".

Moseki said she was still married although she had left her husband and moved back to her parents' home four months ago.

Mohapi said he had been advised not to speak.

"Acting on this advice I refrain from making any comment save to say that I am available to give full cooperation to the police until this matter reaches finalisation."

mashotol@sowetan.co.za

For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays