Police name streetlight failures as eight bodies found in Ekurhuleni rivers

Eight bodies have now been recovered from rivers and open ground across Ekurhuleni, the most recent found in a river near Tembisa Mall on the East Rand.

Earlier recoveries were made in Kempton Park, Olifantsfontein, Clayville and Springs. Acting National Police Commissioner Puleng Dimpane confirmed the Tembisa discovery at a media briefing at the SAPS Gauteng head office in Parktown on Tuesday, alongside Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Sindisiwe Chikunga and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi.

What the police say about the sites

Dimpane told the briefing that failures in environmental design and street lighting are making some places more dangerous. She said the issues are raised with provincial government, and that multi-disciplinary teams and the normal channels between the police and the province are the mechanisms for dealing with them. She acknowledged that in some cases the police need to work better on these issues, and that poor lighting and layout can worsen the risk in certain areas.

That is a direct link drawn by the country’s acting top police officer between the physical condition of a place and the danger faced by the people who walk through it.

The church’s call

Also speaking after the discoveries, South African Council of Churches General Secretary Mzwandile Molo said the deaths of eight women have caused fear and anger among the public, and he called for investigations to move faster.

Molo said a country that records more than 5 500 women murdered every year, an average of more than 15 a day, should confront its failure to protect the vulnerable. He called for legal and judicial instruments, moral teaching and community safety work to be used to change the pattern.

What is known, and what is not

The police have confirmed the locations of the recoveries and the number of bodies. They have not said the cases are linked, and they have not named any suspect. No arrest has been announced in connection with the deaths.

What it means for people living there

The sites named by the police are places people move through daily. Kempton Park, Olifantsfontein, Clayville, Springs and the area around Tembisa Mall are commuter routes, and the condition of the lighting and the surrounding land is a practical matter for residents who use them after dark.

The state’s response

The briefing itself is part of the response. The acting national commissioner, the national minister responsible for women, youth and persons with disabilities, and the Gauteng premier appeared together, which puts the case at provincial and national level rather than leaving it with a single station.

Dimpane said the police and the provincial government are attending to the environmental issues, and she accepted that in some instances the service has to do better. Community Safety MEC Faith Mazibuko is expected to meet investigators over the discovery of the bodies, and that meeting is the next dated step in the case.

The South African Police Service has not released the identities of the eight women. Families waiting for word, and communities along the routes where the bodies were found, are the people this case now turns on.

Source: SABC News (website), Environmental design, streetlights exacerbate crime: Dimpane