Sandton women run in honour of Kirsten Kluyts

Catch Me If You Can, a national group for women who enjoy their daily run has been running in honour of women who have passed away as a consequence of gender-based violence (GBV).

The Sandton chapter of the group, run by Brenda Harlech-Jones and Nicole Glickman, dedicated the final leg of their 16 Days of Activism against women and children abuse (as well as GBV) on December 10 to Kirsten Kluyts.

“Today’s run was in memorial of Kirsten Kluyts, whose murder took place a mere 3km from where we ran today,” said Glickman. “It was an incident that truly shook the community as it occurred on an organised run.”

Glickman, describing Catch Me If You Can as a branched ‘offspring’ of the national Women for Change SA group, said that the Women for Change virtual race aims to cover a total distance of 3 914km to keep the memory alive of the 3 914 women who lost their lives between April 2022 and March 2023.

“Those are reported cases; there’s also the 59 000 plus cases of rape, attempted rape, sexual harassment and incidents that have been reported.
“We are extremely grateful that Catch Me If You Can empowers us to take back our streets, create exceptional bonds of friendship and support, and run in unity.”

Glickman thanked Andre Snyman founder of eBlockWatch, as well as ADT Fidelity for availing Catch Me If You Can runners the means to share their live locations as they run. Snyman said the group approached him for their security when a suspicious character made some of the runners feel uneasy.

“They’ve been harassed in this area by somebody. It was one of those raincoat kinds of guys, you know,” Snyman said. “They dress in pink, and they run – and it’s all women. Today’s the last run – in honour of Kirsten: Kirsten went for a run, this guy caught her, and he murdered her.”

The suspect apprehended for the murder of Kirsten Kluyts appeared before Magistrate Reiner Boshoff at the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court on December 5. The 21-year-old suspect was represented by Advocate Itumeleng Masako.

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