Bombay Durpun - 'It has to stop': runners protest women's murders in S.Africa district

Elizabeth Moselakgomo, a well-known figure locally, was last seen alive on September 9 when she left to go running. Her body was found three days later. She leaves behind her an eight-year-old daughter.

South Africa suffers from a murder rate of more than 60 a day on average, one of the highest globally.

But in this district alone east of Johannesburg, nine women have been murdered between July 15 and mid-September, provoking growing fear and anger across the country.

In recent days ordinary people have been gathering -- from Kempton Park to Cape Town -- to honour the memory of the victims and to call for action to end the killings.

At Kempton Park on Saturday morning, several hundred runners answered a call by several local running clubs, covering 13 kilometres as part of their protest.

Local people should not have to be looking over their shoulders, said one runner, 47-year-old Hlompho Matji, who said she lived in the same neighbourhood as the victim.

"We shouldn't be looking at our back. We should be protected at all times. We want to reclaim our streets," said Hlompho Matji, 47, runner and accounting firm data analyst.

"The whole of last week I didn't run... We are scared."

- 'Taking away our freedom' -

The discovery of the women's bodies, some partially naked and battered, has raised fears that a serial killer or group of killers may be operating in the area.

So far, investigators have refused to commit to either theory, but they have established that some of the women were not killed where their bodies were discovered.

According to the United Nations, one in three women in South Africa experience physical or sexual violence during her lifetime. The country's government has describe the levels of gender-based violence a national disaster.

"It has to stop because they are taking away our freedom, they are taking away our confidence now," said Busisiwe Pakati, 53, software engineer who described herself as a seasoned runner.

Mkhuleko Tshabalala, a 50-year-old financial adviser also from Kempton Park, was one of the many men to have joined the gathering.

"I used to see her here, as a fellow runner," he said. "So we went around, up to the spot where she passed. It was very, very emotional."

- Vigils, protests -

A few extinguished candles on the ground and a bouquet of flowers marked where the body was found. It was discovered along a discreet driveway squeezed between a highway and a concrete wall behind a hotel.

On the other side of the highway, the red-white-and-blue tail of a British Airways aircraft could be seen, a reminder of the proximity of Johannesburg's OR Tambo International airport.

The area borders a leafy residential neighbourhood, ideal for jogging but only accessible from Kempton city centre via major roads lined with car dealerships and vacant plots.

More than 1,400 km away, in the touristic hub Cape Town, more than a thousand students held their own vigil at the university campus Friday evening.

"I want to live, not survive," read one placard held by a student.

"Everyday there's a murder that happens," said Kitso Mojapelo, student leader at the University of Cape Town.

"And there's always the thought that it could be my mother, it could be my sister, it could be one of my cousins, it could be one of classmates, my tutors, my peers.

"And enough is enough."

Moselakgomo will be buried in the small town of Phake, in northeastern Mpumalanga province on Sunday.

F.Varghese--BD