I am among the multitudes of South Africans who watched the live Instagram video of singing sensation Moneoa Moshesh-Sowazi a few days ago. Moneoa, as the singer and actress is mononymously known, shared gut-wrenching details about her five-year relationship with Phiwe Maphanga, who allegedly abused her physically, psychologically and financially.

Maphanga, a supposed businessman, would allegedly beat Moneoa to within an inch of her life for the most arbitrary of reasons – including her being unable to serve him breakfast when she wasn’t feeling well. He also got Moneoa into debt so suffocating that she ended up being evicted from her rental apartment and losing everything she owned in the process, after her possessions were auctioned by her creditors – something that he intentionally failed to prevent...