A hard drive containing a draft of her master’s thesis gave Noxolo Ntuli the courage to fight off three armed men who tried to rob her in Auckland Park on Monday.

It would have been the second time in two years that Ntuli was robbed at the very same spot.

The 26-year-old is a medical scientist at the National Health Laboratory Services.

Armed with lessons from a self-defence class she took after her first robbery‚ she held on to the bag containing her thesis‚ which she is due to submit at the University of Johannesburg at the end of the month.

Ntuli was walking back from work on Monday when robbers drove up next to her and forcibly tried to take her handbag‚ which contained her house keys‚ driver’s licence‚ bank card‚ a bit of cash and the valuable hard drive.

Refusing to allow history to repeat itself‚ Ntuli stood firm against the men‚ who drove away with only her lunch bag.

The tussle was captured on CCTV cameras installed in one of the houses along Goring Avenue and three men have been arrested following the incident.