Stay safe

None of this is your responsibility. The responsibility for violence belongs to the person who commits it, the running clubs said it, and the Deputy Minister said warnings must not "place the burden of preventing violence on potential victims". Everything on this page is here because it can help tonight, not because you owe anyone caution.

1. Tell someone where you are, live

WhatsApp live location: open the chat with a person you trust → the paperclip/+ → Location → Share live location → choose 1 hour or 8 hours. They see you move on a map until it ends.
Google Maps (always on): Maps → your profile picture → Location sharing → add the person → Until you turn this off. Works on Android and iPhone; uses very little data.
iPhone: Find My → People → Share My Location with family.
Runners: Strava Beacon and Garmin LiveTrack send your live run to safety contacts, turn it on for every run, not just the long ones.
In an emergency: the Emergency page has a one-tap button that puts your exact position into a WhatsApp or SMS message.

2. Set up your phone's SOS before you need it

Android: Settings → Safety & emergency (or Advanced features on Samsung) → Emergency SOS → on. Then pressing the power button 5 times quickly calls your emergency number and can share your location with contacts. Add your emergency contacts there too.
iPhone: Settings → Emergency SOS. Then holding the side button and a volume button together starts an emergency call. Add contacts in Health → Medical ID.
Save 10111, 112 and the task-team number 082 465 7249 as contacts. Keep your phone charged; a small power bank in a running belt weighs nothing.
A real panic button: Namola (free tier) sends your GPS position to a 24/7 response centre. If you have an armed-response company, use their app's panic feature. Set it up now.

3. Carry something, legally

Pepper spray is legal to buy and carry in South Africa for self-defence, no licence. Buy from a real shop (outdoor, sporting, pharmacy, Takealot), check the expiry date, and practise the safety catch once. Carry it in your hand or on a wrist strap when you run or walk, not at the bottom of a bag. Gel sprays drift less in wind.
A personal alarm (120 dB, pull-pin, under R150) or a whistle. Noise brings people; attackers leave.
A stun gun is generally legal to own in South Africa without a licence, but it needs contact and confidence; pepper spray works from a distance. If you carry one, learn it.
A firearm needs a licence and training and is beyond what this page can advise on.

4. The one rule from every South African series

In the largest study of South African serial cases, almost half of all victims were approached with a con, a lift, a job, an errand, a request for help, not with force. Do not get into a car with a stranger, however plausible the story. Not for a lift, not for a job interview, not to "help find a lost child", not because it is raining. The offer is the attack.

5. Running and walking

In a group, in daylight, on busy roads: SAPS's own advice since 12 September. The running clubs are organising escorted runs; join one (see who is acting).
Avoid the dark stretches and open veld people have reported, and the service roads beside the R21.
One earphone out, or none. Volume low enough to hear a car slow down behind you.
Tell someone your route and your expected time back. If a car slows or stops near you, turn and go the opposite way to the car, it has to turn around; you don't.
Carry ID or write your name and a contact number inside your shoe or on your phone lock screen.
Trust the feeling. If something is wrong, cut the run short and walk into the nearest shop, garage or guarded gate.

6. Taxis, e-hailing and commuting

Avoid being alone at a rank or stop after dark; wait where there are other women and light.
E-hailing: check the plate and the driver's name against the app before you get in; share the trip from inside the app; sit behind the driver.
Send the taxi's registration or the e-hail trip link to someone as you get in. It takes five seconds and it is exactly the kind of anchor that has solved series.
If a driver deviates from the route, say loudly that you have shared the trip and want to get out at the next busy place.

7. At home and at the gate

Keys in hand before you reach the gate; don't stand at a gate looking at your phone.
If someone is behind you as you arrive, walk past your own gate and around the block, or into a neighbour's.
Agree a code word with family that means "come now" or "call the police".

8. If it happens

Your only goal is to get away and get to people. Make noise. Eyes, throat, knees, then run towards light.
Do not go with them to a "second location", whatever they promise.
Afterwards, even if you got away completely, report it. A near-miss is the single most valuable thing the task team can hear: survivors are how the Nasrec and West End killers were caught. How to give a tip. You will not be blamed and you will not be named.
You are not alone afterwards: GBV Command Centre (government, 24/7) 0800 428 428 · TEARS Foundation (free USSD, any phone) *134*7355# · Lifeline South Africa 0861 322 322.

9. If you are a man reading this

Don't approach a woman who is running or walking alone, however good your reason. Cross the road; give space. Right now, that is the kindest thing you can do.
Offer to run or walk with the women in your life at the hours they want, not the hours you want.
If a friend jokes about it, or talks about a woman as if she asked for it, say something. The men's organisations acting on this case exist because silence is the problem.
If you think you know something, this page is for you.

Sources: SAPS safety advice (12 Sept); Horning, Salfati & Labuschagne (2015) on approach methods; running clubs' statements (Sowetan, eNCA, 14–15 Sept); Deputy Minister Letsike (IOL, 14 Sept). Legal notes reflect general South African law on pepper spray and stun guns; they are not legal advice.