According to Stay Safe, 40% of South African women are at risk of being raped in their lifetime. From a young age, girls - especially in disadvantaged communities - are at risk of being molested, raped, or murdered. Rape does not discriminate - women of any class or colour are subject to these statistics.
Sanette Smit of Stay Safe put together a syllabus of safety tips and self-defence techniques to empower women to defend themselves.
She said: “I have had women tell me ‘had I known that, I could have prevented this’. So this is all about power and control and giving women the skills and techniques to stay safe.”
Though Smit has 40 years of experience in karate, her programme is not solely based on one form of martial arts, but has been cultivated based on interviews with rape survivors as well as research on the physical details of sexual attacks.