How to apply for a protection order

If you are in danger right now, phone the police on 10111. The GBV Command Centre on 0800 428 428 is free and answers day and night, and you can also dial *120*7867# from a cellphone. Do not wait for a court to open before you make yourself safe.

This guide is part of our Domestic violence and protection orders: the complete guide, which links every guide on the topic.

A protection order is a court order under the Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998 that tells someone to stop abusing you and can attach conditions to keep them away from you. You apply at the clerk of the Magistrates' Court for the area where you or the other person live, work or study, or where the abuse happened. It costs nothing, you do not need an attorney, and a magistrate can grant an interim order on the day you apply.

Who can apply, and for what kind of abuse

The Domestic Violence Act applies where there is a domestic relationship. That is wider than most people expect. It covers married and formerly married couples, including people in a customary or religious marriage, people who are or were in a dating, engagement or customary relationship, including an actual or perceived romantic, intimate or sexual relationship of any duration, people who live or lived together in a relationship like a marriage, family members related by blood, marriage or adoption, parents of a child or people who have or had parental responsibility for the child, and people in a close relationship who share or shared a home.

Abuse under the Act is not only physical. It includes sexual abuse, emotional, verbal and psychological abuse, economic abuse such as withholding money you are entitled to, intimidation, harassment, damage to property, and entering your home, workplace or place of study without your consent. Since the Domestic Violence Amendment Act 14 of 2021 took effect on 14 April 2023, it also expressly covers sexual harassment, coercive and controlling behaviour, spiritual abuse, elder abuse and exposing a child to domestic violence. Stalking is no longer a separate category, because following, watching, tracking your movements and repeatedly contacting you are now part of the wider definition of harassment. The guide to what counts as domestic violence sets out each definition.

You can apply for yourself. Another person who has a material interest in your wellbeing, such as a social worker, a counsellor, a teacher or a relative, can apply on your behalf with your written consent. Consent is not needed where the person being protected is a child and the court considers the application in the child's best interests, or where the court finds the person unable to consent. A child can apply without the assistance of a parent or guardian.

If the person harassing you is not in a domestic relationship with you, for example a neighbour, a colleague or a stranger online, the Protection from Harassment Act 17 of 2011 provides a similar order through the same court. Tell the clerk what the relationship is and they will point you to the right form.

Where to go

Go to the clerk of the court at a Magistrates' Court. You can use the court in the area where you live, study, work or do business, even temporarily, where the other person does, or where the abuse happened. Ask for the domestic violence clerk. Since 14 April 2023 the Act also allows an application to be lodged electronically, by sending it to the court's electronic address, which helps if you cannot safely get to a court.

Applications can be brought outside ordinary court hours in urgent cases, so if the abuse happens at night or over a weekend, ask the police station or the court about the after hours process rather than waiting until Monday.

What to take with you

You do not need any of this to apply, and you should not delay if you have none of it. But the more you can bring, the stronger the application:

• Your identity document, or any identification you have.
• The other person's full name, address, and workplace if you know them.
• Dates and descriptions of what happened, in order. Write them out beforehand if you can.
• Photographs of injuries or damage.
• A J88 medical form or any medical or hospital records.
• Screenshots of messages, call logs or social media posts.
• Any police case number from previous incidents.
• Names and contact details of anyone who saw what happened.

What happens on the day

You complete an application form and an affidavit, which is a sworn statement setting out the abuse. The clerk will help you fill these in. Be specific. Dates, words used, injuries and threats matter more than general descriptions.

The papers go to a magistrate. Under section 5(2), if the magistrate is satisfied that there is prima facie evidence that the other person has committed domestic violence, that you are suffering or may suffer harm as a result, and that an order is immediately necessary to protect you, the magistrate must issue an interim protection order, usually the same day, without hearing the other person first. If the magistrate is not satisfied, the papers are served on the other person with a notice to come to court on a return date instead.

The interim order is served on the other person, usually by the sheriff or the police, together with your application and affidavit, and it calls on them to come to court on a return date. The interim order is in force from the moment it is served and stays in force until a court sets it aside.

On the return date both of you can be heard. If the court is satisfied on the evidence, it makes a final protection order. If you do not go to court on the return date and the other person does, the court must extend the interim order and set a new date, and may discharge the order only if you miss that extended date as well. Diarise both dates. The guide to the protection order hearing explains what happens in court.

A worked example

This example is illustrative. Take Zanele, a made-up applicant. Her partner has hit her twice in the past month and has started turning up at her workplace. On a Tuesday morning she goes to the domestic violence clerk at her nearest Magistrates' Court with her identity document, a photograph of a bruise on her arm taken on her phone, and a screenshot of a message in which he threatens to "make her sorry".

The clerk helps her complete the form and the affidavit. Zanele writes down the two dates on which she was hit, what was said, and the three days he came to her office. She asks specifically that he be prohibited from coming to her workplace and from contacting her by phone or message. By early afternoon a magistrate has considered the papers and granted an interim order with those conditions and a return date about a month away.

The police serve the order on her partner that week. On the return date he attends and denies everything. Zanele brings her colleague, who saw him in reception, and her medical record from the clinic. The magistrate makes the order final. This is not a promise of what will happen in your case, but it shows the shape of the process and how ordinary the evidence can be.

A realistic timeline

The same day. You apply, the clerk helps with the affidavit, and a magistrate can grant an interim order before you leave. In a busy court this can take most of the day, so arrive early.

The following days. The interim order must be served on the other person before it can be enforced against them. Service by the police or the sheriff usually takes days rather than weeks, but it depends on whether they can be found.

The return date. This must be at least 10 days after the order is served and is typically set a few weeks after the interim order. It can be postponed if the other person asks for time to get legal help or if service has not happened yet, so the final order may take one or two extra appearances. Once made, a final order has no expiry date.

What the order can actually do

A protection order can prohibit the other person from committing further abuse, from getting anyone else to do it, and from contacting you at all. Beyond that, a court may also:

• prohibit the person from entering the shared home or part of it, even if the home is in their name, where that is in your best interests
• prohibit them from coming near your home, your workplace or your children's school
• order the police to seize any firearm or dangerous weapon
• order the person to pay rent or bond instalments, and order emergency monetary relief, which is a payment for losses caused by the abuse such as medical expenses, lost earnings, relocation or school fees, and can include interim maintenance for a child until a maintenance case is decided
• attach conditions about contact with the children, without replacing a full parenting arrangement

Ask for what you actually need. If your safety depends on the person not coming to your workplace, say so in the affidavit.

What happens if the order is broken

A warrant of arrest is issued at the same time as the protection order and is suspended. Keep it with the order, and keep a copy on your phone.

If the person breaches the order, go to the police with your copy of the order and the warrant and make a statement setting out what happened. If there are reasonable grounds to suspect you are suffering or may suffer harm because of the breach, the police must arrest the person immediately; if not, they must give the person a written notice to appear in court on a charge of breaching the order. Breaching a protection order is a criminal offence, punishable on a first conviction by a fine or up to five years' imprisonment, and the police must also tell you that you can lay a separate criminal charge for the abuse itself.

Police must also assist you at the scene. An officer is required to give you a written notice explaining your rights and to help you find a place of safety and medical treatment if you need them.

Common mistakes

Not going back on the return date. If you miss it, the court will extend the interim order once, but if you miss the extended date too it can discharge the order and you are back where you started. Put the dates in your phone and arrange transport in advance.

Being vague in the affidavit. "He is abusive" tells the magistrate nothing. "On 3 March he pushed me against the kitchen counter and said he would burn the house down" is evidence. Write it out at home before you go if you can.

Deleting messages. Threatening messages are painful to keep, but they are proof. Screenshot them, back them up somewhere he cannot reach, and only then decide whether to delete the originals.

Agreeing to withdraw because he apologised. You can ask the court to set an order aside, and the court will want to be sure you are doing so freely. Think about it for more than a day. An order that stays in place costs you nothing, and you can simply not rely on it if things improve.

Practical safety points

Keep a copy of the order with you and give one to your employer, your children's school and a trusted neighbour. Keep a written log of every incident, with dates and times. Save messages rather than deleting them.

If you need shelter, the GBV Command Centre on 0800 428 428 can refer you, and social workers at the court can too. If you also need advice about divorce, the children or maintenance, Legal Aid South Africa on 0800 110 110 is free if you qualify on the means test.

The order can regulate contact with the children in the short term, but it is not a parenting plan. If the abuse is entangled with a dispute about where the children live, read what a parenting plan is. If the person has also stopped paying for the children, the Maintenance Court is a separate free process; see what to do if maintenance is not being paid. Neither of those has to wait for the protection order to become final.

What to do this week

1. If you are in immediate danger, phone 10111. Do not skip this step because the other steps exist.
2. Write down every incident you can remember, with dates, in a notebook or a note on your phone.
3. Screenshot messages, save call logs and photograph any injuries or damage. Back them up to an email account or a cloud folder the other person cannot access.
4. If you have been injured, go to a clinic or doctor and ask for a J88 form to be completed.
5. Go to the domestic violence clerk at your nearest Magistrates' Court, as early in the day as you can.
6. Tell one person you trust what is happening and where you will be.
7. Diarise the return date the moment you have it.

A protection order is a piece of paper and it does not make anyone safe on its own. Treat it as one part of a safety plan, not the whole plan.