Unisa Press
Breaking Free from the Cycle of Family Abuse
A Daughter’s Journey. A Memoir
| Author: | Gugu Zungu |
|---|---|
| Published: | 2025-10-01 00:00:00.0 |
| ISBN: | 978-1-77615-218-6 |
| Number of pages: | 196 |
| This book is also available in electronic format | |
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| ISBN: | 978-1-77615-219-3 |
About the book
South Africa’s high rate of gender-based violence and abuse against women and children is currently at an alarming peak. This book offers an unexpectedly powerful source of inspiration thanks to the brave voice of a girl who had to endure more than anyone can reasonably be expected to endure.
This remarkable true story tells of the lived experiences of a woman who repeatedly had to suffer abuse at the hands of her closest family members. As the victim, she speaks with brutal honesty and directness. This is the harrowing story of how she had to live in a nightmarish world. Ordinary community members from social workers, members of the police, medical staff and even church members all became part of a psychologically twisted mother’s plot to inflict ongoing abuse against her own daughter. Everyone seemed to turn their back on her.
Due to the endless string of abuse perpetrated by this community, all names in the book and that of the author were changed. In this way, the unfolding story speaks on a universal level - and to an even wider circle. Every one of us who is aware of a community member inflicting abuse on another, becomes complicit, if we do not speak out and protect the victim. Our communities have been insidiously protecting the perpetrators of abuse against the vulnerable and the weak. African traditional dispute resolution systems seem to fail the abused.
Miraculously, despite the continuous waves of onslaught of childhood abuse and setbacks, the author shows her resilient spirit by empowering herself through education. Our heroine eventually obtains a PhD degree and turns her life around, to emerge victoriously – and to bravely tell a difficult story of true grit and inspiration.
Table of content
Part One: In the Beginning (1988-2016) 1
Chapter One In the beginning 3
Chapter Two A Succession of Minor Disasters 9
Chapter Three The First Betrayal 14
Chapter Four Spare the Fist, Spoil the Child ? 23
Chapter Five A Psycho is born 27 Chapter Six The Grass Isn’t Always Greener on the Other Side 31
Chapter Seven The 13-Year-Old Temptress 34
Chapter Eight Hell hath no Fury like A Zulu Mother Scorned 38
Part Two: High School 43
Chapter nine The Horror of High School 45
Chapter ten An Intervention Gone Wrong 48
Chapter eleven The Smear Campaign 59
Chapter twelve Jailed ! 66
Chapter thirteen Operation Debilitate Gugu 79
Chapter fourteen Ending it All 82
Chapter fifteen Scraping Through High School 87
Chapter sixteen Fighting for an Advanced Education 92
Chapter seventeen The road to UKZN 99 Part Three: UKZN 103
Chapter eighteen UKZN The Early Years 105
Chapter nineteen Jailed! Again... 109
Chapter twenty Mauled on Graduation Day 117
Chapter twenty-one UKZN: The Final Years Honours 125
Chapter twenty-two Masters 131
Part Four: From Nothing to PhD Candidate and Beyond 135
Chapter twenty-three Jailed! Yet Again... 137 Chapter twenty-four From Lecturer to PhD Candidate 143
Chapter twenty-five The Beginning of the End 150 Chapter twenty-six The Final Discard 154 Part Five The Pyschology Behind It All 165
Chapter twenty-seven 7
Discovering Munchausen Syndrome 167
Chapter twenty-eight Epilogue: 2016 until present 174
Index 185