Facing staggering gender-based violence, SA women turn to self-defence

In South Africa, femicide rates are thought to be five times higher than the global average. With many women victims of violence, some are now taking their security into their own hands through martial arts and self-defence classes.

At the command of their female instructor, this group of women fire five rounds of bullets from 9mm guns at a target a few metres away at an outdoor shooting range in Bronkhorstspruit, a small agricultural and commuter town on the outskirts of Pretoria, South Africa.

Like many women across the high-crime country, they are actively acquiring self-defence skills in an effort to feel safer due to the country’s exceptionally high rates of violence, especially violence against women.

Ranging from violent contact crimes to property-related crimes, women have found themselves endangered by perpetrators - known and unknown - even in their own homes.

"I was a survivor, not a victim, a survivor of a home invasion where five people held me up in my own house, ransacked the house, and I was not in a position to defend myself at that point," says Sunette du Toit.

"I had to do this for myself, to gain my confidence back, to be able to move in public and even in my house without feeling vulnerable. And that is what this is all about. And it's turned into a family of support," she adds.

Claire van der Westhuizen is the lead female teacher of Lone Operator shooting range. She teaches her students to be prepared for a variety of real-world scenarios.

"Shoot is one thing, but what we teach builds confidence, and it builds sort of that feeling like I'm willing to defend myself. I'm somebody that deserves to be defended. And I think that is, for me, the biggest message that we can bring across, is teaching a woman that she is worth it, you know? And to equip her with skills that could actually work. And I've had a couple of women that we have helped through a few situations,” explains van der Westhuizen.

Jiu-jitsu classes

Approximately 104 kilometres away, at a martial arts studio in the north of Johannesburg, a group of women learn from their female instructor how to break free from a chokehold if someone grabs them from behind.

At the end of the move, which uses gravity and confusion, the attacker ends up flat on their back, giving the victim a chance to flee.

"After your bread and butter, it’s jiu-jitsu, because it’s that important,” says Tatiana Leyka, at the end of her Saturday morning training session.

“Next to your gym membership should be some sort of self-defence skills,” she adds.

Stephanie Graham is an instructor at Gracie Jiu-jitsu.

"Everyone's not a hundred percent sure what they're in for once they step onto these mats, but when they do, and this is what I love about the Women Empowered program, is from the beginning there's the nerves and the uncertainty, and then as they start to go through the program there's this shift in their mindset, there's this shift in their energy, the way that they carry themselves, the way that they perceive themselves. And suddenly, for whatever would have brought them to the mat in the first place, no longer is an issue for them in their personal lives," she says.

However, while many of the women in her program depart with confidence, “there’s no guarantee."

“Especially in South Africa, there’s no guarantee that we can use our skills to defend ourselves,” says Graham. “We can only hope that it’ll give us more confidence and heightened awareness so that we can perceive a threat a little bit earlier than the average person would.”

The government takes action - but is it enough?

Data by the Human Sciences Research Council shows that more than 35% of women over the age of 18 in South Africa have experienced physical or sexual violence, while the country's femicide rates are said to be five times the global average.

Vulnerability is made worse by economic problems, especially for Black, LGBTIQ, and disabled women. Mpiwa Mangwiro-Tsanga, Policy Development and Advocacy Manager at Sonke Gender Justice, a women’s rights organisation says the situation is so bad it's "dizzying."

"About 15 women are killed in a day, per day in South Africa. That is how bad it is. And when we come back to talking about other forms of gender-based violence, talk about sexual abuse and rape, one in three women in South African, according to statistics, have been sexually abused or sexually harassed in their lifetime. So, we are competing with conflict countries," she says.

Socio-economic inequality, intimate partner violence, the pervasiveness of patriarchal attitudes and an under-resourced police force make it hard to arrest this seemingly unsolvable problem.

The far-reaching impact of gendered violence and years of pressure from women's advocacy groups forced President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare GBVF a “national disaster” on the eve of the historic G20 summit held in Johannesburg in November. The move is meant to activate an intensive, coordinated response. Ramaphosa emphasised this during the 2025 national 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, observed annually at the end of November, saying “by classifying GBVF a national disaster, we will be able to speed up resource allocation and funding flows to support survivors and improve access to justice.

But previously earmarked funds have been underused. Sindi Chikunga, Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, admitted to parliament that only 58.7% of the R57.2 billion ($3.4 million) GBVF budget had been spent by February 2025.

In response to years of advocacy, including the 2018 #TotalShutdown protests, South Africa launched its National Strategic Plan to combat gender-based violence in 2020. The plan includes a national fund for femicide prevention, legal amendments, improved survivor support through one-stop care centres, and a governance council.

However, implementation has been delayed.

For now, South African women are not taking chances. They're taking their safety into their own hands - even if it means taking lessons in secret, and with no guarantee of survival.