Eight bodies in Ekurhuleni as Operation Shanela moves on Kempton Park

Eight women’s bodies have been found across Ekurhuleni, and Gauteng has asked for additional capacity as police prepare to intensify Operation Shanela and move on Kempton Park and the surrounding areas.

Premier Panyaza Lesufi gave the province’s request for extra assistance at a media briefing on Tuesday night, as police readied the expanded operation. Government spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said on Wednesday that he could not comment further while the investigations were under way.

The word the province used was lockdown, and it has caused some confusion about what residents should expect. Crime expert Yusuf Abramjee said it describes an intensified law-enforcement operation, not a blanket shutdown of the area. Schools, shopping centres, businesses and workplaces are not expected to close. What residents should expect is more police visibility, patrols, intelligence gathering, stop-and-search operations where they are appropriate, and specialised units brought in under the expanded Operation Shanela.

“The objective must be twofold: to prevent further attacks and, equally importantly, to gather the evidence needed to identify and arrest whoever is responsible for these horrific killings,” Abramjee said.

He said the response had to be highly visible, intelligence-led and sustained, and that a short-term surge in policing would not be enough on its own. Visibility can deter, but it has to be followed by arrests, forensic breakthroughs and prosecutions that hold.

“Ultimately, residents want to see action, not just announcements,” he said. “The eight women whose bodies have been found deserve justice, and the residents of Ekurhuleni deserve to feel safe in their own communities.”

Marches in three provinces

South Africans have answered the deaths with silent marches and tribute runs, from Gauteng to the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

In Cape Town, 24-year-old stylist and activist Jemina Madonna organised a silent march at the Castle of Good Hope on Wednesday after seeing repeated reports of women’s bodies being found in Gauteng. She said the killings cannot be treated as a Gauteng problem just because that is where the bodies were found.

“We are not part of any association, any political party, or any organisation that deals with these certain things,” Madonna said. “But we are on social media so much that you can’t even focus on the things that you want to do on social media because every second scroll is a dead body that’s been found.”

In Gauteng, runners gathered on Tuesday morning to honour Elizabeth Moselakgomo, known as Tsontso, whose disappearance and death have shaken the running community. Bethuel Mangena of the Stallion Running Club said the gathering was about making it clear that women should not have to choose between their safety and their passion for running.

“Tsontso embodies the collective experience of all women, including mothers, wives, and sisters,” Mangena said. He called for greater police and private-security visibility along running routes.

Runners in KwaZulu-Natal also took to the streets in her memory. A 5km run left Florida Road at 5am, with runners dressed in black in solidarity with Moselakgomo and with victims of gender-based violence and femicide. One runner, Pulu, said the reason for being there was simple. “For me, it’s very important to come out today, first of all, because tomorrow I can be next.”

Moselakgomo was a member of Team Vitality and had recently completed the Wanderers 21km. Discovery Vitality has asked members to wear pink and join group runs at Team Vitality Zones on Thursday and Saturday, September 17 and 19, and at parkruns on Saturday morning. A BackaBuddy campaign set up to support her daughter and family had raised R84 533 by Wednesday morning, past its initial R50 000 target.

What the council wants

The National Council on GBVF has demanded justice for the women whose bodies were found in Ekurhuleni. It said it expects thorough investigations, a timely forensic turnaround and properly resourced prosecutions, and that it will seek a formal briefing from the South African Police Service and the relevant provincial and municipal authorities on the cases and on the safety measures being put in place.

“This is intolerable, and it is not inevitable. The council demands justice,” it said.

The council said some of the women remain unidentified and appealed to families with missing loved ones in Gauteng to approach the police and the Gauteng Department of Health so that DNA identification can proceed.

Police have asked residents to come forward with information that could assist the investigation. They have also warned against spreading unverified claims, particularly that a serial killer is at work or that specific individuals are responsible. The eight cases have not been confirmed as linked.

The safety question women carry

For Jessica Foord, founder of the Jes Foord Foundation, Moselakgomo’s death has thrown the fear women carry through ordinary life into plain view.

“The horrifying reality of violence against women in South Africa is the knowledge that it could be you next, not because you did something reckless, but while doing something as ordinary as going for a run in your own neighbourhood,” she said.

Foord said practical safety matters and must be discussed, but that women cannot keep being made responsible for preventing violence committed against them. Women in under-resourced communities carry the same fear on routine journeys, she said, including walking to taxi ranks or travelling short distances to work. Prevention, in her view, also has to involve boys and young men in conversations about consent, respect, boundaries and healthy masculinity, while authorities deal with overgrown areas, poor lighting and unsecured public spaces.

Beyond the tributes, the nationwide reaction has produced demands for tougher action. A Change.org petition launched on September 14 calls for the reinstatement of the death penalty for offenders convicted of femicide. The petition page says it has attracted more than 300 000 signatures.

Police have not said when the expanded operation will begin, and no arrests have been announced in the eight cases. The National Council on GBVF’s request for a formal briefing from the police and the provincial and municipal authorities is the next dated step in the process.

Source: IOL, ‘Tomorrow I could be next’: South Africans unite over women’s killings