MALAIKA MAHLATSI | For women, there is no precaution left to take

Years ago, Naledi Chirwa and I developed a practice that I have never stopped using. Whenever either of us would be travelling using public transportation or e-hailing services , we would send each other our live locations.

Years after I bought a car, I continue to employ this practice with my close friends.

I found myself thinking of this a few days ago when I landed at OR Tambo International Airport after being away for months. I used an e-hailing service to get home – the same one that I have been using for a while.

It is owned by women, and all the drivers are women. I got home, in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg. Before the cab dropped me off, I logged onto my phone to check the home CCTV app to make sure that everything was okay in my house, where I live on my own. Everything was fine – the alarms were still activated, and there was no one lurking anywhere.

My neighbourhood is one of the safest in the city – armed private security patrolling 24/7, CCTV cameras and panic alarms on every second pole, complex and estate with security guards at the gates or restrictive entry.

Despite this, I have fortified my house with additional security cameras, panic buttons and motion-sensor alarms on every floor. My windows have burglar bars on them, as do my doors, including the door to the main bedroom where I sleep.

I engage in an elaborate security ritual before I go to bed: double-lock the doors, close the windows, activate alarms on all floors, ensure the home CCTV app on my phone is working, lock the burglar door to my bedroom, and keep my phone close to me. I do this because as an insurance client, I have access to a 24/7 emergency feature built into the app.

In case of an emergency, I would hold down the button for three seconds, and an operator would call to verify the emergency, find my exact location, and dispatch the closest private or public security, armed response, police, or medical service to me. But this is not enough, so I sleep with a large knife under my pillow and a few more strategically placed around the house.

I am just as careful on the rare occasion that I leave my house. My car has a live tracker and a panic button attached to the key fob. I ensure that my location is also tracked by a close friend.

I do not meet strangers in secluded places, if ever. I shop at a mall with open parking where I never have to walk alone to secluded parking spots. But I rarely shop at malls now; I use grocery delivery services.

The delivery driver never gets into my house – they remain at the security-access gate, and I collect my packages from there or request that they be dropped off outside a locked door.

My doors are also locked when the gardener comes every third weekend – under no circumstances does he enter my house. I do not go to parties or clubs. I do not drink alcohol or take substances. I am, by every definition, an extremely cautious person.

But here is what I know for a fact: I am not immune from gender-based violence.