When Dikeledi Makhubedu showed up to run on September 15, this time every step carried a little more weight.

The Sunninghill Striders Running Club athlete was among runners who gathered for a 4km solidarity run in memory of Elizabeth ‘Tsontso’ Moselakgomo, a fellow runner they had learned about through news reports. Dressed in black, the colour of mourning, the runners completed the route in solidarity with Moselakgomo and her loved ones.

Read more: Sunninghill Striders host solidarity run for Elizabeth ‘Tsontso’ Moselakgomo

For Makhubedu, the tragedy hit particularly close to home because of what it means for women who run alone. “It’s extremely painful. I think it hits close to home because a lot of runners, especially women runners, this is the only time where we have time and space for ourselves.”

Makhubedu said women often spend their days being mothers, partners, sisters and workers, with running providing a rare opportunity to simply be themselves. “Other people do church. Other people club, other people have other social communities, but this is the time where you sit by yourself with your thoughts.” The death of Moselakgomo, however, has changed that feeling of freedom.

Makhubedu said many women are now uncomfortable running, particularly when they are alone. “For that to be stripped away so painfully, for most of us, because now we’re uncomfortable running.”

That is why she chose to show up. “I thought, let me come out and show support and also take my power back. Not allow this disastrous incident to completely strip me away and make me feel smaller than I already do.”

Beneath that determination, however, is fear. Makhubedu said she already experiences anxiety when running alone, particularly when she encounters a man who appears suspicious. “You just see a man that looks strange. Do you panic, or run faster? Your fear just comes.”

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She admitted that she sometimes questions whether she is being unfair in feeling afraid, but said incidents such as Moselakgomo’s death reinforce the anxiety many women already carry. “I am ridden with anxiety,” she said.

For Makhubedu, the responsibility for creating safer communities cannot simply fall on women being told to change how they run or where they go. She believes authorities need to look beyond existing approaches and learn from other countries and societies that have managed to reduce crime and deaths. “It’s going to take more than what we’ve been doing to change the situation.”

Makhubedu said police need to find new ways of keeping people safe rather than continuing to advise communities to do what they have already been doing. “This is their job, so they need to find ways to actually intercede and enforce new strategies to keep us safer.”

As the Sunninghill Striders completed their 4km run, there was a shared understanding that while they had not known Moselakgomo personally, her story resonated with them as fellow runners. “In light of what happened to Elizabeth, we are in solidarity with her, because most of us are her,” Makhubedu said.

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