Police probe eight Ekurhuleni killings as Ramaphosa orders cases prioritised

Eight women have been found dead at separate sites across Ekurhuleni since the middle of July, and the South African Police Service is now investigating whether the cases are connected.

The most recent body was found in the Kwa-Thema township on Tuesday. The first was found on 15 July, a 37-year-old woman, naked and bound with cable ties. A suspect was arrested two days later.

Between those two discoveries, police have recorded a 32-year-old woman found partially clothed on 24 August, a woman’s body found in a river near Tembisa on 7 September, and a 38-year-old woman whose partially clothed body was found behind a hotel on 12 September. She had left her eight-year-old daughter at home to go jogging and did not return.

As Deutsche Welle reported on 15 September, the deaths have raised fears that a serial killer or a group of killers could be operating in the area.

What the police have said

SAPS has not confirmed that the deaths are linked. It has confirmed that the similarities are serious enough to act on.

“While investigations are still underway and SAPS has not, at this stage, confirmed that the deaths are linked to a serial killer, the similarities are sufficiently concerning for the police to issue a public warning and intensify investigations,” police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said.

On the question of who is responsible, Mathe said: “We are still investigating whether we are dealing with one perpetrator or a group of men that are behind the murders of these women.”

The public warning urges women in the area to exercise caution when jogging or carrying out similar activities. Several of the victims were found naked or partially clothed, and some showed signs of sexual violence.

The similarities are sufficiently concerning for the police to issue a public warning and intensify investigations.

The state’s response

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday ordered police to prioritise the investigations, saying the deaths were causing fear and uncertainty and promising that no stone would be left unturned.

Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia met reporters after a meeting called to discuss the killings. “The challenge is ahead of us and the deaths of these young women must not be in vain,” he said.

The Gauteng case docket now sits at the centre of a national conversation about how the country’s courts and police handle crimes against women. The cases also arrive weeks before municipal elections in November, with violent crime already a leading source of public concern.

What South Africans know that this story does not say

For a reader here, the numbers behind the headlines are familiar and they are grim. Around one in three South African women experience physical or sexual violence during their lifetime, according to the United Nations. UN Women has described the country as having some of the world’s highest rates of violence against women and children.

That context matters because it shapes what happens next. When cases like these are opened, the pressure is not only on the investigation. It is on the National Prosecuting Authority to bring charges that hold, on the courts to hear them without the years of delay that have become routine, and on the police to keep the public warning in place for as long as the risk remains.

Ekurhuleni is one of the country’s largest municipalities, spanning Tembisa, Kwa-Thema, Springs, Benoni and Boksburg, with a population of more than three million. The distance between the discovery sites is one reason police have not ruled out a single perpetrator or a group.

Women in the affected areas are being asked to change how they move. That is the practical effect of the warning: routes avoided, jogging partners arranged, and the ordinary freedom of a morning run weighed against a risk that has not been fully mapped.

What happens next

The police investigation is continuing, with the cases now treated as a single priority cluster. The suspect arrested two days after the first body was found remains part of the docket.

Source: Deutsche Welle, South Africa now probing deaths of 8 women near Johannesburg