RUNNING — TO HER DEATH: Tsontso’s final run on lonely Ekurhuleni route where she probably faced killer

{JSON.stringify(article.attachments[0], null, 2)} --> Elizabeth ‘Tsontso’ Moselakgomo vanished on a routine Rhodesfield run; her murder has been linked to at least eight other women’s murders and raised fears of a serial killer on the East Rand.

Sunset was less than an hour away when Elizabeth Moselakgomo finally got the chance to slip out the big sheet-metal black gate at the bottom end of Mustang Street for a run.

It had probably been a rushed day, for just a little earlier she had been battling the afternoon traffic after picking up a parcel in Isando for her good friend Lesiba Molefe.

Because of the time, well past 5pm on that Wednesday, 9 September, Lesiba had thought Tsontso, as most people knew her, would skip running that day. But Tsontso laced up her shoes and Lesiba believes she probably turned left towards Firefly Street, the start of a running route through her suburb of Rhodesfield, in Kempton Park.

She had completed the run countless times. This was a run she felt safe doing, along streets close to her home.

Safe enough that she felt comfortable returning home in the fading light. But it was on this run, with the hum of heavy late afternoon traffic on the R21 highway and the sound of aircraft lifting off from nearby OR Tambo International Airport, that Tsontso encountered her killer.

Her killing would open an investigation that would reveal eight other murdered women and awaken South Africans to the likelihood that a serial killer is stalking the East Rand.

Lesiba still wonders why Tsontso decided on that late afternoon run. It could have been because she was training for the Two Oceans Ultra Marathon next year. A more likely reason is that Tsontso simply loved running.

The kilometres clocked every week in preparation for the longer weekend races helped clear her head, says Lesiba. “She ran because she was a health freak,” he laughs.

But being a working mom meant her runs had to be squeezed into a busy schedule. Snatched here and there.

Lesiba and Tsontso were close friends, so much so that he describes their relationship as being like brother and sister.

They both shared and bonded over a love for long-distance road running. She began running in 2020, and the bug quickly bit.

When Lesiba ran his first Comrades ultra marathon in 2024, Tsontso supported him, and as a thank you, he gave her his prized Comrades cap to wear. She wore it when she ran races.

“When it was going to races, it was just me and her most of the time. It was all about fitness,” recalls Lesiba. When we had issues, we would say, “Okay, let’s go and run a race.”