70-year-old woman injured as driver ploughs through GBV protest in Observatory
When Maureen Witten, 70, agreed to join her daughter at a women’s shutdown protest in Observatory on Friday, she wanted to stand against gender-based violence.
Instead, she was knocked down by an impatient driver who tore through the group.
Witten, who had never attended a protest before, had joined the demonstration with her daughter, 45-year-old Roslynne Richman, to honour women and children victims of GBV.
Minutes later, she was lying on the ground, bruised and crying from pain, after being clipped and struck by a car that refused to stop.
“We are just very thankful that my mother is alive,” Richman said.
“She is in a lot of pain, and she could have so easily gone under that car.”
The incident, which was captured on video, occurred on Main Road at about 12.20pm.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg said they responded to the scene but when they arrived they could not find any injured people.
“Police members went to the hospital without any success,” Twigg said.
The video, seen by IOL, shows a group of women and supporters standing together in the road during the shutdown.
Traffic is backed up but stationary.
A white Toyota suddenly accelerates forward instead of waiting, moving straight into the group.
One man is pushed up onto the car’s bonnet as the driver continues driving without stopping.
He rolls off the front of the moving car and hits the ground.
On the left side of the car, Witten is struck by the side mirror and the side of the vehicle.
She stumbles and falls towards the edge of the road.
People start shouting, waving their arms and rushing towards the two victims.
Several women run to help the man who fell from the bonnet, while others run to assist Witten as she holds her arm and struggles to stand.
The car does not stop. It drives off quickly through the protest line while people shout in shock.
The protest had begun calmly.
Dozens of women and supporters gathered in the area, lying down for 15 minutes before forming a circle of unity while the traffic light was red.
All the cars had stopped, but then one driver chose not to.
“There was this one impatient driver who just wanted to get through,” Richman told IOL on Saturday morning.
“Someone was flung onto his bonnet and he drove off with the guy on the bonnet.
“My mom was clipped by the side mirror and then hit by the side of the car. She was centimetres from the tyre.”
Richman rushed to her mother as the crowd screamed.
“I felt so bad because I invited her to come,” she said.
“She just wanted to show support for all the women and children who have lost their lives.”
Witten was taken to Rondebosch Medical Clinic, where she was treated in the emergency room for bruising and trauma before being discharged later that night.
She is now recovering at Richman’s home.
“The impact on her bones is much greater than on a young person and it is going to take time for her to recover.”
The other victim — the protester who rolled off the bonnet — suffered a broken arm.
The women had gathered in Observatory to honour, among others, Davidene Witbbooi, a Pick n Pay employee who was killed on Women’s Day in 2024.
For Witten, it was meant to be her first protest.
“She’s never done a protest in her life. Now she says it was the first and the last,” Richman said.
Since the incident, community members, activists and human rights representatives have offered psychological support and sent messages of encouragement.
“The support has been amazing,” Richman said.
“We are extremely thankful.”
Richman and the other victim plan to open a case at Woodstock Police Station, with Women for Change accompanying them.
What shocked Richman nearly as much as the incident were reactions online.
“The mentality of people saying, ‘Why were you in the road?’ It blows my mind,” she said.
“Nothing justifies what that driver did.”
She is now focused on helping her mother heal — and processing the trauma herself.
“We were just standing there in solidarity,” she said.
“And he completely disregarded human life.”
GOOD’s City of Cape Town councillor Roscoe Palm said police must track down the driver and arrest him.
“True accountability is non-negotiable,” Palm said.
“Our legal system must send a clear message that violence, especially violence carried out on a day meant to confront GBV, will not be tolerated.
“There is no excuse for using a vehicle as a weapon against unarmed civilians exercising their right to protest.”
Palm said it created a mindset that treated human life as disposable and trivialised the trauma women face daily.
“When people feel entitled to harm others without consequence, women and vulnerable groups pay the highest price.
“Standing against GBV means confronting every form of violence that chips away at our humanity.”
IOL News