Kesa Molotsane is a professional athlete who has acquired her BA degree in General Management (2015), as well as certificates in Basic Labour Law, Advanced Labour Law, and Alternative Dispute Resolution at the University of the Free State. She is the only athlete who has won the Spar Ladies Grand Prix in her debut year.
In 2016, she broke the1 500-m record in the Varsity Athletics event in Stellenbosch. She finished 1st in the 5 000 m at the ASA Night Series in Cape Town and the USSA Championships in Limpopo. During the Southern Regions CUCSA Games, she won both the 1 500 m and 5 000 m and was 1st in the 10-km event at the South African Cross-Country Championships in George. She was also selected for the World Student Cross-Country Championships in Italy, but the South African team withdrew from the championship.
In 2017, she took part in several events, among others, the ASA Speed series in Durban; the World Cross-Country Championships in Kampala, Uganda; and the World Student Games in Taiwan. She also won the1 500-m Varsity Athletics event in Pretoria in a record time of 04:26, was 1st in the 10-km Spar Women’s Challenge in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and Pietermaritzburg, and 1st in the 10-km Free State Cross-Country Championships in Bloemfontein.
Kesa was included in the Athletics South Africa team for the 2018 CAA Cross-Country Championships in Algeria; she also finished as the 1st South African lady in the FNB Cape Town 12 One Run event in May 2018. She won the 10-km Spar Women’s Challenge in both Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. At the USSA Championships in Sasolburg, she was placed first in the 5 000 m as well as the 10 000 m.
In 2018, Kesa won the GSport4girls Public Choice Award and was recently named the Bloemfontein MyCityRun ambassador, advocating a healthy lifestyle. She represented South Africa at the IAAF World Cross-Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark in March 2019, where she became the first South African to finish. She was named Kovsie Sportswoman of the Year in 2017. Her contribution to the Kovsie community has been massive – she also volunteered and translated documents from English/Afrikaans into Sotho for the Vrystaat Arts Festival since 2015.
Being the country’s most versatile middle-distance athlete – running track, cross-country, and dominating the road-running scene – she has truly become the face of Kovsies. Her commitment to the sport was highlighted both on and off TV screens and the athletic track when she became a proud ambassador for the Mother and Child Academic Hospital (MACAH). Her sporting career and involvement in community projects is well-known; she is indeed a true leader and motivation for everyone.
When she is not a professional athlete, she spends her free time attending sporting events, sleeping, family time, running, as well as community upliftment – with a special focus on girls and young women (hence her involvement in the MACAH Foundation). If that is not alumni material, nothing is.