Author: Modern Athlete

The old saying “Dynamite comes in small packages” could have been written for Shafeeqah Gordon, a Cape Town trail runner with the heart of a warrior and the motivation to prove that you are not policed by your circumstances, but freed from it by your self-belief. – BY PJ MOSES

Petite 24-year-old trail runner and Salomon brand ambassador Shafeeqah Gordon from Westridge in Mitchell’s Plain is understandably proud of her achievements in trail running thus far, given where she comes from. “There is a perception that girls from the Cape Flats are only here to fall pregnant or use drugs, but I am proof that there is a lot more to us as people than just doing that. Knowing where I am from drives me to where I want to be.”

A late starter to the sport of running, this former netball player fell head over heels in love with the amazing highs that trail running brings her when she is out in nature, and she also likes the discipline it takes to become good at it. The University of the Western Cape graduate, with a BA in Sport Science, says that going out there to explore her favourite rock, Table Mountain, is something that she never gets tired of. “The view of the city from the top of the mountain is just so spectacular and it blows my mind every time I see it.”

Overcoming Obstacles
Shafeeqah admits she didn’t have a clue as to what she was doing when she took up trail running. “My big mistake when I started was that I didn’t train properly. I would just run as many events as I could, with no training in between, and this led to me suffering from runner’s knee and having a frustrating time. So, I decided to change this and get a proper training programme, after which my form and my times improved in leaps and bounds.”

An even bigger obstacle was overcoming the pressure of having a fulltime job while also studying and training, as well as the fact that running is not a norm in her community, but she says the love and support from her family and friends, especially the ones in the Cape Town trail community, help her to keep pushing forward. “My parents don’t always understand this trail life, but they support me, and I think they are just happy that I am keeping myself busy with the right things, and not off being irresponsible. There were no guidelines to becoming a trail runner for a young Muslim woman from Mitchell’s Plain. But just like there was no one else in my immediate family in whose footsteps to follow on getting my degree, I don’t mind finding my own way. I am always a Muslim first and a trail runner second.”

Highs and Lows
This trail journey has not been without its low points, though. There have been recent races, like the UTCT 35km and the UTD 30km, where the doubts overcame Shafeeqah, and she says the tears flowed freely. “You question yourself in those moments, and ask whether all the effort and sacrifices are worth it, but what helps me is that I look back to where I started, from scratch, with nobody seeing the dream but me. That helps me get over all the fears, and to finish these races, knowing that I am stronger than I was before, and that I will get where I want to be.”

Her commitment coupled with the guidance she got from top trail runner Meg Mackenzie throughout last year saw her take fifth place at the Helderberg Mountain Challenge last May. “I am inspired by the women in trail who have gone before me, and I want to learn as much as I can from them. This year, my focus has shifted to running longer distances and more technical terrain, and I have Linda Doke to coach me. My goal is to work hard in reaching my potential as a trail runner, and I’m doing my first international race this October, the Salomon Cappadocia Ultra Trail in Turkey, where I’ll run the 38km.” Her family and best friend Jadè are going along to give her moral support, and she says, “I’ve always wanted to run overseas, and it’s going to be extra special having my loved ones there and sharing it with them.”

Apart from the strong women in trail she looks up to, Shafeeqah also takes inspiration from books, like the Ryan Sandes book, Trail Blazer. “I love to learn, and this is just another way of learning to overcome the obstacles that life throws at you. There are always doubts when you set out into uncharted territory, but I back myself to get to that higher level. I have learnt not to stress about things that make you unhappy, but to change them. For any of us to succeed in life, we need to take responsibility to make ourselves happy first. And my trail life makes me happy.”

Dawie Aucamp has been running for 26 years, but the last few years have been really challenging after he suffered a heart attack while out training… even though he didn’t know that until 12 hours later! After many operations and having an Implantable Cardio Defibrillator (ICD) implanted, he’s not only returned to marathons and ultras, but also done his first Ironman. – BY SEAN FALCONER

The troubles started in November 2010. Around the 32km mark of the Winelands Marathon, Dawie felt pain in his chest, experienced white vision and couldn’t breathe, so he pulled off the road. Eventually he began feeling better, so he slowly carried on and made it to the finish. Then it happened again 16km into the Dangerpoint Half Marathon that December. “I thought it was just blood pressure, because I was fine in the Bay to Bay 30km in January, but later that month, the same thing happened 30km into the Red Hill Marathon. I had to put my hand on my wife Annalita’s shoulder to balance, but again I recovered and finished the race. Then it happened again at 30km in the Peninsula Marathon!” says the 56-year-old finance manager from Stellenbosch.

The next day he called his doctor, who ran tests but couldn’t find anything wrong, partly due to Dawie being so fit that he was unable to get his heart rate high enough on the exercise bike to really stress it. That saw Dawie referred to cardiologist Dr Wouter Basson, who ran more tests and prescribed blood pressure tablets. “That worked for a few years, but I was still tired in the legs and would finish races totally exhausted.”

Fast forward to 2015 and Dawie was running his 11th Two Oceans Ultra when a friend passed him at 30km and said he didn’t look good. “I replied that I was going to bail if a bus came past, but none did, so I finished in 6:18. Then at Comrades the same thing happened – around 35km in I told Annalita to go, because I was holding her back, and after a lot of tears she eventually did. I recovered after a while and finished in 10:44, but I was getting worried.”

Then on 9 August, he experienced problems again during a long training run. “I struggled home, but started vomiting and shivering, and my stomach was upset. Annalita found me sitting in the shower under hot water, so helped me get into bed to try rest, but I had no circulation in my extremities, and I kept vomiting, so when she came home later from a Women’s Day function, I said I think we should go to hospital. The doctors gave me one look and booked me in for emergency treatment. It took three shocks to get my heart back to normal rhythm, and they told me I had suffered a heart attack.”

LUCKY ESCAPE
The following day he was visited in ICU by Dr Basson and specialist Dr Rust Theron, who told him the troponin count in his blood was 37,000. A raised troponin level indicates cardiac muscle cell death, and a normal count should have been 40! “Dr Theron still said, ‘You’re somebody’s favourite up there.’ I was in ICU for four days, and three weeks later Wouter diagnosed Super-ventricular Tachycardia in the top chamber of the heart. He said I could start training three weeks later if I kept my heart rate under 130, and in my first run everything was fine. However, the next evening my heart went off the chart, so it was back to Wouter. And yet, the angiogram showed nothing wrong, so he sent me to physiological cardiologist Dr Razeen Gopal, who took one look at my charts and said I’m going nowhere. He also promised me, ‘I am going to give you your life back’.”

In October 2015 Dr Gopal diagnosed Ventricular Tachycardia of the bottom chamber of the heart, inserted the ICD in Dawie’s chest, and did a cardiac ablation to scar the tissue in his heart that was allowing incorrect signals to cause an abnormal rhythm. After being discharged, Dawie was told to rest – no running until February 2016 – and he admits that his first comeback jog with Annalita was very frightening, but he came through it OK. However, the next evening when he tried a swim, his heart rate skyrocketed and the ICD kicked in to shock his heart back to normal rhythm. It gave him a second shock as his friend Dirk pulled him out of the water, and he had another two while lying next to the pool. “I was having a VT storm, so Dirk phoned Annalita and they rushed me to hospital, and in that time I had another six shocks!” That resulted in another 11-hour operation and a week in ICU, followed by several more ops, until eventually the day came that Dr Gopal came out of theatre and told Annalita, “Now I am finished with him.”

LONG ROAD BACK
Dawie was told to do nothing strenuous till August 2016, and after initially walking regularly, the doctor gave him the all-clear to start running lightly in mid-November. From there he gradually built up his mileage and in February 2017 felt ready to tackle the Cango Half Marathon in Oudtshoorn. “I no longer ran on pace or time, just on heart rate, and I never went over 160,” says Dawie. Next was the Two Oceans Half Marathon, and by July he felt strong enough to go run his sixth Rhodes Ultra 52km. Then he and Annalita decided they wanted to do the 2018 Full Ironman in PE the following April.

“At the beginning of August I started the Modern Athlete Dare to Tri programme, and I was supposed to run the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon in September, but a week before race day I had to go in for a laminectomy for a pinched nerve in my spine, so no running for the whole of September and October. The back specialist said he wasn’t sure if I would run again, let alone do marathons, but I started running again at the beginning of November, because I had spent a fortune on our Ironman entries, flights, accommodation and gear!”

For the Ironman, Dawie had to get a medical clearance before the organisers would let him start, but everything went smoothly on race day, except for a scare during the swim leg. “The ICD has an alarm if a magnet comes too close, as that switches it off. About 2km into the swim I heard an alarm and thought it was the ICD, so I stopped to check, but I think it may have been somebody’s watch alarm going off nearby. I just had to put it out of my mind and try going on. Annalita and I swam together, then split up later and she finished in 13:11, while I did 13:57. It was pure enjoyment, just being able to participate, but there were a few emotional moments for me along the way. Now we’re already booked to go back in 2019, and we’re going to do the Ironman 70.3 in East London as well.”

POSITIVE ATTITUDE
Dawie and Annalita’s most recent adventure saw them take on the three-day AfricanX Trailrun, where he unfortunately rolled his ankle during the first stage and had to sit out day two before strapping it up and getting through day three. “It healed up OK, but I had to cancel my Comrades trip. It would have been my ninth, so my plans for my Green Number have been postponed by one year.”

These days, Dawie says his heart still sends him a warning now and again. Early in June he was out training when his heart jumped over 200, but the ICD picked it up and paced him out. “Annalita always runs with me, either waiting for me or doubling back to come back to me, and it gave her a massive scare, too, because she turned and saw me lie down on the pavement! That was the first attack since my last op, so I’ve been struggling a bit psychologically with my running the last few weeks… but I’m not going to let it stop me. I get my energy from sport, and if not for sport, I would have ended up sitting at home waiting for it all to end.”

IMAGES: Courtesy Dawie Aukamp

Winning the Comrades Marathon is considered one of the pinnacles of achievement in South African road running. It brings a massive payday, makes you a household name and really puts you on the running map, with sponsorships, endorsements and media opportunities that follow, as Bongmusa Mthembu found out in 2014. However, winning it again takes things to another level, let alone a third time! – BY SEAN FALCONER

It wasn’t so very long ago that Bongmusa Mthembu was struggling to find work and just keeping his running ticking over, having moved from his hometown of Bulwer to nearby Pietermaritzburg in the hopes of finding more opportunities. “It was hard to get a job, but eventually I got hired as a bricklayer, and at that time I was just training to keep my body healthy,” he says. “Then in 2004 I started to enter some of the local races, and in 2005 I won the Maritzburg Marathon, even without proper training. That was when I started thinking about taking part in the Comrades Marathon, and in my mind I already had the dream of winning Comrades one day.”

He ran his first Comrades in 2006 and earned a silver medal in 6:25:19, followed by two more silvers and a highest finish of 31st in 2007. Then in 2009 he rocketed up the placings as he came home seventh for his first gold medal, followed by third position in 2010, 12th in 2011 and the runner-up position in 2012. He didn’t finish in 2013, but in June 2014, he set out from his home city and clocked 5:28:29 to win the Down Run and fulfil the promise had shown over the preceding years.

A disappointing 17th place followed in 2015, but he bounced back with third place in 2016 for another gold, and then in November that year he added the SA Record for 100km to his list of achievements, clocking 6:24:05 to finish second at the 2016 IAU World 100km Championships in Spain and finally beat Bruce Fordyce’s 27-year-old SA Record by 62 seconds! That cemented his status as one of SA’s premier ultra-runners, but more was to come. In 2017 he won his second Comrades title, crossing the line in Pietermaritzburg in 5:35:34 to add an Up Run title to his Down Run win of 2014. That already put him into a select group of men with multiple Comrades wins, but in 2018 even more glory was to come his way.

WHERE FEW HAVE TROD
Prior to this year’s race, just nine men had managed to win the race three or more times in its nearly 100-year history, and of the further eight men with two wins to their name, Bongmusa was the only one running in 2018. Furthermore, just 11 men had ever managed to win the Comrades in back-to-back years, and there again Bongmusa was the only man in this year’s field in the running to change that record. Happily for the affable Arthur Ford AC runner, he was able to do both in his 13th Comrades run.

Having broken away from the chasing pack on Cowies Hill, with about 19km to go, Bongmusa stormed home to break the tape in 5:26:34, beating second-placed Joseph Mputhi by 8 mintes 35 seconds. This made him the first South African to win the race in consecutive years since Bruce Fordyce last managed this feat in 1987 and 1988 (the last two of his eight consecutive wins from 1981 to 1988), and just the third man since Bruce to record back-to-back wins.

Back to Back Men’s Comrades Winners
1922-25 Arthur Newton (4)
1933-34 Hardy Ballington
1953-54 Wally Hayward
1956-57 Gerald Walsh
1963-64 Jackie Mekler
1969-71 Dave Bagshaw (3)
1974-75 Derek Preiss
1976-78 Alan Robb (3)
1981-88 Bruce Fordyce (8)
2007-08 Leonid Shvetsov
2009-11 Stephen Muzhingi (3)
2017-18 Bongmusa Mthembu

After the race, Bongmusa said, “I am very emotional about this win, because the Comrades means so much to me. The experience of my previous Down Run victory helped me a lot, and I decided in Pinetown to break away from the others on Cowies Hill. The Down Comrades only really starts in Pinetown.”

Interestingly, if Bongmusa can win the 2019 Comrades, he would become just the sixth man ever to win the race in three consecutive years. Another Comrades win would also put him level with Alan Robb on four wins, and just one away from joining the Big Five of the race who posted five or more wins. Given the way he has performed over the last few years at Comrades, he looks like he could do just that!

All-time Leading Men’s Comrades Winners
9 Bruce Fordyce
5 Arthur Newton
5 Hardy Ballington
5 Wally Hayward
5 Jackie Mekler
4 Allan Robb
3 Dave Bagshaw
3 Vladimir Kotov
3 Stephen Muzhingi
3 Bongmusa Mthembu

ANN’S AWESOME SURPRISE
In contrast to Bongmusa, who was widely touted by many experts to be a favourite to win the 2018 Comrades, Ann Ashworth was only considered a safe bet for a top 10 position and a gold medal by most pundits. As the old saying goes, shows what they know, because the 34-year-old advocate from Johannesburg pulled off one of the biggest upsets to comfortably win the women’s title in 6:10:04, after a gutsy run that saw her take, then lose and retake the lead in Pinetown. Pre-race favourite Gerda Steyn, the 2018 Old Mutual Two Oceans Winner, was second home in 6:15:34

Ashworth crossed the finish line with a big smile and received a massive hug from her coach, John Hamlett, who added a women’s win to his four men’s wins as a Comrades coach. After catching her breath, she said her race plan had worked out perfectly. “I had started building up for the Comrades with a win in the Legends 68km last year, followed by a fifth place in the Two Oceans and second in the Loskop 50km this year. John told me he believed I could win it, but still, I don't think anyone is more surprised than myself that I am sitting here as the winner. I took two months off work to train for the Comrades, and I want to thank everyone who made sacrifices to help me achieve this.” (Look out for an in-depth interview with Ann in an upcoming edition. – Ed.)

IMAGES: Jetline Action Photo

After coming back from an operation on her foot and having to learn to walk again, multiple SA Champion Rikenette Steenkamp had been frustratingly close to breaking the 21-year-old SA Record for the women’s 100m hurdles, but in June she finally claimed the record for herself. – BY SEAN FALCONER & WILHELM DE SWARDT

If ever an athlete deserved to break an SA Record, it was Rikenette Steenkamp. Throughout the 2017 season she had been knocking on the proverbial door of dipping under 13 seconds and improving on Corien Botha’s SA Record of 12.94 seconds, which had stood since 1998, and the same had continued in 2018. She had finally broken that 13-second barrier, and then had actually run a 12.92, at the Resisprint International Meeting in Switzerland, but the wind from behind was unfortunately too strong for record purposes.

Undaunted, Rikenette (26) continued chasing the record, and in June she finally did it at the Memorial Josefa Odlozila Meeting in Prague. Former World Junior Champion Elvira Herman of Belarus won the race in 12.69, with Rikenette finishing second in a brilliant new SA Record of 12.91 – and that in spite of not having the best of starts, coming out of the blocks second-last, but still leading over the first four hurdles.

“To at long last break Corien Botha’s record was amazing. I have dreamt of doing so for the last seven years. What excites me is that it was not the perfect race. My technique going over the first four hurdles was possibly the best I have ever done, but I was coming onto the hurdles so fast that it led to me losing a bit of rhythm. Then I hit the sixth hurdle – I can’t remember when last that happened!” says Rikenette. “I was quite emotional afterwards, especially when I met up with my coach, Hennie Kriel. I owe so much to him for the way he guided me to break the record.”

Starting from Scratch
What makes Rikenette’s SA Record all the more impressive is the fact that just two years ago she had to learn to walk properly again after an operation on her foot! Having won the SA Schools title in 2009, then recording a hat-trick of titles in 2010 by claiming the SA Schools, Junior and Senior titles in her matric year, then going on claim the gold medal at the 2014 African Champs in Morocco, she saw her career derailed by constant pain in her foot.

“After a six-week off-season break in September 2014, I started training again, but slight pains in my right ankle started bothering me. Despite consulting various physios and doctors, the pain gradually increased. In early 2015, I tried training three times a week at about 60% intensity, but that was just frustrating, and at the end of 2015 I consulted a foot specialist, Dr Fief Ferreira, and he finally identified the problem,” says Rikenette.

“I had an extra piece of bone about 15mm long in my ankle, which impaired my mobility and therefore caused a lot of pain when running. There was no other option than to do surgery, followed by six weeks’ bed rest, two months’ physiotherapy and two months of swimming, whilst working with a biokineticist. That rehabilitation period was difficult, although I knew it would all be worth it, but I could only return to the track in September 2016! There were moments when I thought I won’t ever run again, but I am so blessed with an amazing family and support system that carried me through this time. They always helped me to focus on the next part of the process, and we celebrated every small victory.”

Bouncing Back Strongly
Today, the pain and frustration of her operation and recovery are distant reminders of how far she has come, spurring her on to still greater achievements, and up to her record run in Prague, Rikenette had posted a remarkable series of results in European races, winning four races and finishing second in a further two. Also, it shows how far she has come, in that posting a second sub-13 in a week, at the Diamond League Meeting in Stockholm, just after the record run, actually left her feeling a bit disappointed…

“I guess I should be satisfied with a time of 12.99, as it is only the third time officially that I managed to dip under 13 seconds, but after my 12.91 in Prague, I know that I am capable of running faster times. Still, I am overwhelmed with thankfulness after the setbacks and challenges that I’ve been through the last two years. The biggest lesson I have learnt is that it is OK not to have everything under control. I view things very differently now. Life almost never works out completely as planned, so I enjoy my running a lot more now when I am relaxed and make jokes. I also don’t see mistakes or bad races as failures. It is part of sport to go through processes, and it’s not possible to run a personal best in every race.”

Postscript: Rikenette Shatter Own Record
Having set a new SA Record of 12.91 in the 100m hurdles just a few weeks earlier in Prague, Rikenette produced another breakthrough performance on 1 July in Switzerland. She obliterated her still new record with a 12.81 in the final of the Resisprint International meeting in La Chaux-de-Fonds, after clocking 12.70 in the qualifying heat, but that mark was run with the benefit of a tailwind and is not record-legal.

IMAGES: Reg Caldecott

After surviving a brutal attack in February that had many thinking his running career was prematurely over, Thabang Mosiako not only returned to running incredibly quickly, but also stronger than before, and he says it is all down to magnesium. – BY SEAN FALCONER

The South African running community was shaken in February when news broke of an apparent racially-motivated attack near the North West University campus in Potchefstroom on two well-known black athletes, SA 5000m Champion Thabang Mosiako and SA 3000m Steeple Chase champion Rantso Mokopane, along with their friend Sandy Londt. The initial reports said that Thabang was in a coma after suffering severe head injuries, having had his head repeatedly kicked and bashed against the pavement. There were doubts whether he would recover from his head injuries, let alone run competitively again.

In 2017 Thabang claimed the men’s 5000m title at the SA Senior Track and Field Champs, putting in a stunning last lap to close down Olympian Elroy Gelant’s 200m lead. Later that year he won the FNB Joburg 10 CITYRUN, and in January the second-year human resource development student at Boston City campus in Potchefstroom won the SA Cross Country Trials to qualify for the SA team going to the CAA African Cross Country Champs in Algeria in March, but the brutal attack seemed to have put an end to those plans.

Amazingly, though, he made an incredible recovery from his injuries and not only resumed running, but made it to the African Champs just over a month after the attack, where he finished a very creditable 26th and third South African home in the men’s 10km. “My preparation did not go to plan because of the attack, but after running my race, I was so happy, because I had managed to finish, and under the top 30 as well. It really showed me that I can run again,” says Thabang, who went on to finish 12th and fourth South African in the FNB Cape Town 12 ONERUN in May.

THE FATEFUL NIGHT
According to Rantso, the three friends stopped at Varsity Café in the early hours of the morning to buy some food. While Thabang and Sandy waited outside, he found himself in the queue to pay behind three apparently drunk white men, one of whom began swearing at the elderly black woman working the till. That prompted Rantso to intervene. “I asked them can you please pay and go, because what you guys are doing is not right, but those guys got angry. There was another white guy behind me in the queue, and he also said to the drunk guy to stop, but nothing happened to him. The drunk guy just focused on me.”

When Rantso came outside, the group had grown to about 10 men who then attacked him, so Thabang and Sandy tried to help their friend. Passing police officers came and stopped the fight, but appeared to take the side of the white men. “The police started beating us with batons, as if we were the ones who were in the wrong,” says Rantso. Having received no help from the police, the three tried to get away from their attackers, who began chasing them. “It happened so quickly, and then we were running for our lives,” says Thabang.

Shockingly, Rantso says they came across another police vehicle and asked desperately for help, but were ignored, and stopping for help just allowed the chasers to catch them once the police drove away. “Sandy went one way and Thabang went the other. I was fighting two, but then they left me and went to Thabang. I saw them hitting and kicking him, and when they finished he was lying unconscious with blood on his head. Then more police came and they called the ambulance.”

RECOVERY BEGINS
Thabang woke up the next day in hospital and says while lying there, his thoughts turned to the attack, and how he had kept thinking about his wife Thandi (who was SA under-23 Champion over 1500m last year), and their young son Mpho. “I thought I would die there, and kept thinking what would happen to them if I lost my life,” he says. Fortunately, his injuries were not as severe as initially feared, so he was up and about a few days after the attack, but he was left with sever headaches, especially when he tried running, and believed his opportunity to represent his country in Algeria was gone. “I was overcome with despondency, and I had given up on the Algeria trip,” he says.

Then out of the blue he was contacted by Benita Niemann of Magnesium Café and everything changed. “She tracked me down before African Champs and told me to try the product, that I will see the results.” Having heard of the attack and Thabang’s struggle to recover, Benita had decided to offer what help she could. “It was really sad for me, because when I first made contact with Thabang, he had two hands full of tablets, and not one was magnesium. As soon as he started to drink the magnesium, he started to recover. People don’t understand the importance of magnesium,” she says.

Thabang continues the story: “Everyone thought I would only be running again next year, or at least after six months of recovery, but I went to African Champs. What really helped me recover was the magnesium products, and I can’t thank Benita and Magnesium Café enough. It took away the headaches, and gave me the energy and focus I needed in training. Physically I am OK now. The terrible headaches I was getting are not so bad now, only coming now and again, and I plan to keep using the product, because it saved my career!”

Unsurprisingly, his training mates noticed his rapid recovery and quick return to form, and began asking him about the wonder supplements he was taking. That saw coach Springs Phakathi ask Benita if she would consider sponsoring more of his training group, so now Rantso, Thandi and Puseletso Mofokeng are all using her products, and Rantso is equally effusive about the effects of magnesium. “It seemed to really help Thabang. Initially he used to stop regularly in jogs due to the headaches, but gradually improved once he started using magnesium. Previously I never believed in supplements, but now I’m also using magnesium, because it’s the best thing I have found for recovery and energy.”

ENDURING FRIENDSHIP
No suspects have been arrested following the attack, in spite of Rantso following up with the police and university authorities, and he says the latest information they have points to the fact that it may have been men from Pretoria, with ties to Potch students, that attacked them. “Ironically, Thabang always avoided coming out in the dorp at night due to previous attacks or incidents like this, usually with drunk guys. To be honest, I don’t go out at night any more, because I don’t feel safe.”

He says he wished the attack had not led to his friend suffering so much, but he nevertheless does not regret getting involved in the café. “The first thing I thought was, what if that had been my mother, just doing her job… so I had to speak up, because we must protect people that can’t stand up for themselves. I had no intention to fight, but I am still responsible for what happened. I used to think maybe we were at the wrong place at the wrong time, but seeing my friend almost get killed made me stop and say this must not happen again, and that is what I am fighting for.”

Meanwhile, Thabang says the physical injuries of the attack may now be largely healed, but the psychological and emotional scars are still healing. “When people talk about the attack, it really hurts me, because even today nobody has been arrested. It hurts because I haven’t got justice yet. Still, I am really proud of Rantso for standing up for that cashier, even though we got attacked. He is a true friend.”

IMAGES: Tobias Ginsberg, Back Track & Courtesy YouTube