Seven women found dead in Gauteng in two months as safety audit is demanded

Seven women have been found dead in and around Kempton Park, Olifantsfontein and along the R21 highway in the past two months, the latest two discovered on Tuesday.

One body was found in a river in Gauteng, partially decomposed and partially naked. Earlier the same day, police found another woman on the side of a road in KwaThema, Springs, fully naked and in an advanced state of decomposition. Among the seven is runner Elizabeth Moselakgomo, whose body was identified on Monday.

What the commission is asking for

The Commission for Gender Equality has called for an urgent safety audit of the affected locations in Kempton Park, to be run with the South African Police Service, the municipality, transport authorities and community safety structures. The audit should assess street lighting, surveillance, pedestrian routes, public transport points, vacant or poorly monitored spaces, police visibility and access to emergency assistance.

“A society in which women have to avoid certain roads, stop exercising outdoors, change their working hours, travel only in groups, or constantly share their location to feel safe, is not a society in which women enjoy substantive equality,” commission spokesperson Javu Baloyi said.

He said women should be able to run, walk to work, use public transport, return home, visit friends and take part in community life without having to weigh whether an ordinary activity could put their lives at risk. The commission said the deaths show how often women’s ordinary freedom of movement in South Africa becomes a matter of life and death, and that an area should not have to lose lives before it receives heightened attention from the authorities.

The commission called on Kempton Park residents to work with police and pass on any information that could help investigators identify those responsible. It sent condolences to the families of the women who died and urged authorities to strengthen preventative measures alongside the investigation and prosecution.

The state’s response

The Department of Social Development, at national and provincial level, condemned what it called callous, cowardly and utterly reprehensible acts of violence against women, and said gender-based violence is a societal issue that demands a societal response.

“The loss of seven lives, mothers, daughters, sisters and members of our communities, is not merely a tragedy. It is an emergency,” the department said.

Social Development Minister Dina Pule and Gauteng MEC for Social Development Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko visited Moselakgomo’s residence on Tuesday afternoon to provide psychosocial support to the bereaved families. The department confirmed it sits on the Rapid Response Team convened to coordinate government’s urgent response to the murders, alongside SAPS, the City of Ekurhuleni and the Community Safety Department. The team’s stated focus is a swift, coordinated and victim-centred response.

The commission’s proposed audit and the Rapid Response Team both put the response in the hands of named institutions: SAPS, the City of Ekurhuleni, the Gauteng social development department and the national department. The commission’s point is that the audit should happen before another body is found, not after. Its call to residents is the other half of that, because the information that identifies whoever is responsible will most likely come from someone who lives or works along those routes.

Source: SAnews (South African Government News Agency), CGE calls for urgent safety measures for women