Ramaphosa says government must answer for nine Ekurhuleni deaths as three suspects appear in court

Three suspects were expected in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday in connection with the murder of Jabulile Ntimba, one of nine women whose bodies have been found across Ekurhuleni over the past two months.

Ntimba, believed to be about 30, was found partially clothed in an open area on Lama Street in Villa Lisa, Dawn Park, on Thursday. Police said she had suffered a fatal throat injury. The Gauteng Murder and Robbery Unit arrested a man and two women over the weekend.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, asked about the killings at the ANC Veterans League fundraising golf day at the Johannesburg Country Club in Woodmead on Monday, said government could not step away from its responsibility to protect women.

“Government is there to protect the people of South Africa, plain and simple. So when things like these happen, government should take responsibility,” he said. “Even if at times gender-based violence happens in the privacy of people’s homes, people of South Africa expect their government to protect them. So we will never run away from that responsibility. It is our duty.”

Ramaphosa said the response would include more money, more resources and more technology, and that an inter-ministerial committee would develop initiatives in response to the crisis. “We will be pulling out all stops to find these perpetrators,” he said.

He also said the responsibility extended beyond the state, and that men needed to change how they treated women. “The women of our country are the builders of the nation,” he said. “Gender-based violence is not only a problem for women, it’s a national crisis.”

Asked whether government’s existing programmes were failing women, Ramaphosa acknowledged there would be shortcomings and areas where there had been neglect, while describing the commitment as “fierce and forceful”.

What police have and have not established

Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia has cautioned that investigators have not established that the nine deaths are the work of a serial killer. He said the investigations have indicated different possible motives and methods.

Police are still examining whether the deaths are connected. The nine bodies were discovered in the Kempton Park and Ekurhuleni areas over a two-month period, and Ntimba is the ninth victim in the series of murder cases under investigation. Police deployments have been increased in affected parts of Ekurhuleni and a multidisciplinary team has been strengthened to investigate the deaths.

That distinction matters for residents following the case. A confirmed link between the killings would change the shape of the investigation and the resources assigned to it. Until police establish one, the deaths are being handled as separate murder cases with separate evidence trails, which is also why the arrest over Ntimba’s death does not by itself answer the question families in Kempton Park and Dawn Park have been asking.

What happens next

The three suspects arrested over Ntimba’s murder were due before the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday. The inter-ministerial committee Ramaphosa described has not yet been given a date for its initiatives, and the strengthened multidisciplinary team continues its work on the remaining cases.

Source: IOL, Ramaphosa vows ‘all stops’ to protect women amid Ekurhuleni killings