Lawless Langa's little Miss Plum kicks out at violence

When the crime stats came out last week‚ Langa in Cape Town was once again right up there in the hall of notoriety: murders have gone up by 50% over the past five years‚ with one in a thousand people killed.

For sexual offences‚ too‚ the rate is also around one in a thousand‚ and carjackings have quadrupled in five years.

Against this backdrop of urban terror‚ one diminutive young woman has beaten the odds and drawn what she calls “a boundary around” herself through the discipline of karate.

Ncumisa Plum‚ 20‚ recently scooped a medal at an international competition in Canada and did the same in India in 2013‚ despite an injury which she kept to herself for fear of being told to withdraw.

"My dad forced me and my brothers to learn karate to protect ourselves and it became part of my nature," said Plum, who trains at the Gojukai Hombu dojo and is supported by a non-profit called African Warriors of Light.

When her dad died nine years ago‚ her brothers stopped karate. But for her‚ it was not only a way to honour his legacy but to protect herself from the realities of life in one of the oldest – and most notoriously crime-ridden – townships.

“I feel safer because of karate‚” she said. “It’s like I have put a boundary around me that warns others to think twice before they try to do something to me. Karate takes you off these streets where gangsters and peer pressure can make you lose focus. This way‚ I am bettering my life.”

Plum’s late father‚ also a student of Goju Kai karate‚ had extra battles to fight: during apartheid‚ he was banned from training at the dojo in Mowbray with her instructor Frank Brandon’s father. “My dad told me how one time he had to hide in the ceiling of the dojo for a few days because the police wouldn’t leave the area trying to make sure only white people were there‚” she said.

Just as she was inspired‚ she hopes to pass it forward. “I am now the only female senior at the Langa dojo and now some of the little girls in my area want to follow in my footsteps.”

According to international health NGO Livestrong‚ men and women often favour different karate tactics because of the “inherent physical differences between them”‚ and students of karate are taught to use their strengths against their opponent's weaknesses.

“This allows a smaller and physically weaker woman to defeat a larger and stronger man through superior karate strategy‚” according to Livestrong.

In the context of a place like Langa‚ Plum said other sports codes also change lives‚ but are “not as focused”.

Her mother Alicia Blom‚ a domestic worker‚ wells up with tears when she speaks about her daughter. “I am so proud I can cry if I talk about it because I am coming from long struggles. So much happens around our country - people get raped‚ people are harsh every day - you can’t even go to the shops. Karate is about self defence and my daughter has that‚” she said.