A Cape Town man named Kyle Pretorius is offering free self-defence classes to Northern Suburbs-based women following the recent wave of gender-based violence that is overwhelming the country.
Pretorius, who has 20 years of martial arts experience, took to Facebook to offer his services and received an overwhelming response from women. Speaking to Good Things Guy, Pretorius explained why he decided to teach a free self-defence class.
“After the horrific events from the past week, I thought I could use my experience to help others. It may not be a grand solution to the problem, but maybe my knowledge can help even a little. I don’t feel it would be right to charge women for the right to feel safer and exclude those with limited finances, so I thought a free course would be the right thing to do,” he said.
He plans to host four free classes, open to women from the Blouberg, Table View, Parklands and Sunningdale area. Each class will build on the skills taught the week before.
On his Facebook page, Pretorius wrote that the first free class will be on Saturday, September 7 at 10.30am at Ringwood Drive Parklands, the park next to Grace Baptist Church. Attendees are requested to wear comfortable clothes and shoes for the 1.5 hour session.
Pretorius joins other Capetonians wanting to do their part to help women feel safer. A group of femmes recently started a fundraiser to purchase pepper spray for female UCT students and have since raised over R49 000, and local establishments are offering a “come in” policy to women that feel unsafe on the street.
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