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Runner Joyce Netshitenzhe on her 520 km race.
Completing 520 km in fifteen days, from Pretoria to Thohoyandou, was no mean task even for an established long-distance runner Joyce Netshitenzhe from Khakhanwa village in Limpopo.
The 44-year-old female runner embarked on the grueling marathon to raise awareness against Gender-based Violence.
Upon arriving in Thihoyandou, Netshitenzhe ran straight to the police station to hand over a memorandum of grievances.
Thohoyandou is notorious for its top ranking in provincial crime statistics.
The athlete and mother has faced extreme challenges in her quest to end gender-based violence.
The dry, humid and hot weather did not deter the decorated runner on her mission. She started running from Pretoria two weeks ago with respiratory breaks in between.
“ Almost everyday we wake up to news of gender based violence wherein either a man has killed a woman or a woman has murdered a man. This also includes the rape and abuse of children in our communities. This is why this initiative is so important to me, its purpose is not only to highlight GBV in our communities but also to make a clarion call to our authorities to really combat this scourge,” says runner Joyce Netshitenzhe.
VIDEO | The scourge of GBV has been a challenge in SA:
Gender-based violence in Thohoyandou is high. Recent statistics from the South African Police Service place Thohoyandou at the fifteenth position of areas that see alarming rates of contact crimes.
Netshitenzhe submitted a memorandum of complaints to the police station.
“It is my wish, as stated in the memorandum, that the police really take GBV cases seriously so that we do not see bail applications being granted to perpetrators. Police authorities should be stern when dealing with such cases to send a clear message to communities that acts of such nature will not be tolerated in our communities.”
Community members, including Netshitenzhe’s husband, showed support.
” She came to me with an idea to fight gender based violence through running, so I agreed with her and we started planning about the journey,” says Bethuel Netshitenzhe.
The runners, including Netshitenzhe, have given the Thohoyandou Police Station a fair amount of time to respond to their memorandum.
