Aluve shifts uncomfortably on her bed but cannot find any sleep. It has been hours since she arrived home from her so-called ‘date’. Her father orders pizza for dinner. Silently missing the comfort of Nonzwakazi’s cooking, they each collect their pieces and disappear into their rooms. She avoids a call from Ntsiki, feeling unable to force cheerfulness.

Then, just after midnight, Aluve’s phone vibrates and her screen reflects a text from Cindy.

Hey. Lwazi is gathering his friends and
my brother told me that your father’s
face is all over Facebook. I think
they are planning something. 

Aluve logs onto her Facebook account and scrolls through the newsfeed. It does not take her long to find a meme of her father’s face captioned ‘Face of the Abuser’. When she reads through the Comments, she realises that people are plotting to ambush him.

Outside, the silence of the night is suddenly broken by chanting. Aluve rockets from her bed to peer out the window. A group of young men appear in the distance, singing, carrying weapons, and approaching fast.

Panic explodes in the pit of her stomach and she runs to her father’s room. She frantically knocks on the door. “Baba! Baba!”

“Hai, Aluve! Do you know what time it is?” her father groans.

“Please Baba! There are people outside. I think they are coming for you!” Aluve calls out.

There is a brief moment of silence before the bedroom door swings open. Mr Mbolekwa stares down at his daughter in confusion.

“What do you mean they are ‘coming for’ me?” he says, eyebrows raised.

“Your name … your face. It is all over Facebook and they are calling you a – an abuser. P- people are p- plotting, singing outside and they want to attack you,” Aluve stutters.

“Nonzwakazi?” He breathes out her mother’s name. “She organised for people to come kill me?”

“What? No!” Aluve replies.

Mr Mbolekwa rushes past Aluve to peer through the dining room window. The voices have multiplied, gotten louder. He spots that some of his neighbours have joined in.

“It wasn’t Ma,” Aluve blurts nervously. “I happened to tell a friend about what was happening here at home. About your cheating, about you hitting Ma, and her leaving.”

“I am not cheating on your mother!” he shouts, as he swings back to face her. “Is that what she told you? Is that what she believes?”

In two strides he is in front of her, grabs hold of her shoulders and tries to shake the answers out of her.

“Is that why she left? I am a cultural man! I don’t believe in telling a woman about financial problems, but I did not use the money to cheat. I am sick! I have been secretly using the money to see traditional healers and get treatment!” Mr Mbolekwa roars with rage, before he pushes Aluve away.

Aluve trips and falls. She quickly finds her feet and scrambles to the front door. She unlocks it with trembling fingers and runs out as soon as it opens. The fresh air is a relief but the cold soon creeps through her nightdress, making her shiver. When Aluve looks up, she finds herself facing a large crowd, looming beyond the fence. Lwazi leads with a sinister look in his eye, and he calls for an attack.

Aluve watches as some people kick through the gate, others climb over the low fence, and they all run up to the house.

“No! Please stop!” Aluve screams.

It does nothing to stop them. Lwazi reaches her, grabs hold of her wrist and tries to pull her away.

“Leave me alone!” Aluve screams as she tries free herself.

“I am trying to help you!” Lwazi shouts over the noise, “I don’t want you to suffer like I did!”

“This is not help; this is madness!” Aluve spits back.

Mr Mbolekwa is dragged out of the house and thrown down on the ground in the yard, where people continue to attack him.

At that catastrophic moment, Cindy comes running to the scene with a number of people, who Aluve recognises are part of the Sikhona organisation. They rush to Mr Mbolekwa’s aid and Cindy bolts to Aluve.

“Leave her alone, Lwazi!” Cindy scolds as she grabs onto Aluve. “I have already called your aunt and the police. Tell your crazy friends to stop the attack.”

“You called the police?” Lwazi says and releases Aluve.

He looks at the war zone playing out on the yard before he retreats from the scene in panic. The sound of sirens float from the distance as Lwazi disappears into the night.

Then a crash turns everyone’s attention to the house. Someone has thrown a petrol bomb through one of the windows and the flames instantly begin eating at the curtains! Aluve screams again.

 ***

Tell us: What do you think of the way Lwazi is trying to stop abuse against women – vigilantism? Is it ever okay?