Community runners take to the streets in honour of Elizabeth Moselakgomo (video)

A woman who went out for her regular afternoon run never made it home. This week, the community she left behind ran the same streets in her memory.

Elizabeth Mokolo Moselakgomo, known affectionately as “Tsontso,” was just 38.

She managed the Festival Mall shopping centre and sang in her church choir.

Avid runner

An avid runner, she competed for Team Vitality and Waterfall City Athletics Club, and had recently completed the Wanderers half-marathon in Johannesburg on 23 August.

On 9 September, she disappeared after leaving her home in Rhodesfield, Kempton Park, for what should have been a routine afternoon run.

Her eight-year-old daughter raised the alarm when her mother hadn’t returned by 18:30.

Search teams found her body on 13 September, behind a hotel in Rhodesfield, in sports clothing and partially unclothed.

Family members positively identified her at the Germiston mortuary on Monday, 14 September.

MEMORIAL

According to SABC News, residents of Kempton Park and neighbouring communities gathered in Rhodesfield on Tuesday afternoon.

They came together for a memorial run in her honour, organised by Penny Letsoalo.

The run started near the hotel Tsontso had passed while out jogging.

Letsoalo said runners made their way to Tsontso’s home on Mustang Street, then to the area where her body was discovered. There, they held prayers, lit candles, and observed a moment of silence.

Letsoalo told SABC News she didn’t know Tsontso personally.

Living in the same area, she said, left her deeply shaken: “I got numb, like I got so emotional, and I was having anxiety about this whole thing.”

A WIDER WAVE OF TRIBUTE

Tsontso’s death sparked tribute runs across Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.

Running clubs, including Waterfall City Athletics Club and Run Alex Athletics Club, dedicated distances to her and other women killed through gender-based violence.

The response reached as far as Eswatini, where runners completed a 10km club run in her honour.

Athletics South Africa’s Acting CEO, Terrence Magogodela, said the death had left the athletics community grieving.

He added that the organisation trusts the investigation will establish the truth and hold those responsible accountable.

Her case forms part of a wider investigation.

It now covers nine women found dead across Kempton Park, Olifantsfontein, Clayville and KwaThema since July.

Police have cautioned it remains too early to conclude the deaths are connected.

HAVE YOU TAKEN PART IN OR WITNESSED ANY OF THE TRIBUTE RUNS HONOURING WOMEN LOST TO GBV?