Gauteng police name four of nine Ekurhuleni victims as Home Affairs joins DNA drive

Nine women have been found dead across Ekurhuleni since the middle of July. Four of them now have names. Five do not.

The latest discovery came on Thursday, when police recovered a woman’s body in Dawn Park, Boksburg. Preliminary information suggests she was killed somewhere else and her body left at the scene, according to Gauteng police. She is the ninth woman in the wider Ekurhuleni investigation, and her identity had not been publicly confirmed by Friday morning.

The four women who have been named are Gracious Nkomo, 28, Itumeleng Kekana, Elizabeth Moselakgomo, who was known as Tsontso, and Dineo Evelyn Motapane.

Nkomo was identified at the Germiston mortuary on Thursday, the day after police found her body partially clothed along the R21 in Kempton Park. Her family came forward and confirmed who she was, which is the step that turns an unknown victim into a person detectives can trace.

What the five unidentified cases have in common

The earliest of the outstanding cases dates to 15 July. A 37-year-old woman was found in an open field near the R21 in Kempton Park. She was naked and restrained with cable ties. Police arrested a man two days later in connection with her murder, and he remains in custody while investigators examine whether evidence links him to any of the other deaths. Police have not confirmed such a link, and the woman’s name has not been released.

On 24 August, officers found a 32-year-old woman dead near the same stretch of the R21. She was partially clothed. Her identity has not been made public.

On 7 September, a woman believed to be in her late twenties was recovered from a river in Clayville, near the Mall of Thembisa. She was wearing only underwear. She has not been named.

On 14 September, a fourth unidentified woman was found beside a road in Olifantsfontein. Police said she was partially clothed and had bruising on her body.

Then came Dawn Park on 17 September, the ninth case and the fifth woman still without a publicly confirmed name.

Forensic teams are collecting DNA

The Gauteng Department of Health appealed to families earlier this week, when three of the then five victims were still unidentified. Department spokesperson Steve Mabona asked relatives who had reported someone missing and believed she could be among the dead to approach the Germiston Forensic Pathology Service. Forensic teams are collecting samples for DNA analysis to establish who the women were.

That appeal has widened as the number of unidentified victims grew. The National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide has also called on any Gauteng family with a missing loved one to approach the police and the provincial health department so that DNA identification can proceed.

The identification drive now reaches beyond the province’s forensic services. Investigators have brought Home Affairs into the operation and are using biometric records, including fingerprints, to put names to the remaining women and to develop leads. Acting Gauteng Police Commissioner Major General Fred Kekana said senior Home Affairs officials have joined the work.

A confirmed identity is not only a name on a file. It tells detectives where a woman lived, how she moved around Gauteng and who last saw her alive, which is the ground a murder investigation is built on.

What families in Gauteng should do now

For a household in Tembisa, Kempton Park or Boksburg with a relative who has not come home, the practical step is the one the province has been asking for since the start of the week. Report the missing person to SAPS and make contact with the Germiston Forensic Pathology Service. DNA samples from close relatives are what allow a body to be matched to a name.

The families of the four identified women have already been through that process. Five others are still waiting to be told who their daughter, sister or mother was.

Anyone with information on the deaths can contact the SAPS Crime Stop line on 08600 10111 or pass a tip to their nearest police station.

Source: The South African, Ekurhuleni murders: Five victims still unnamed as Kempton Park probe widens