Seven women found dead near OR Tambo as police open Kempton Park task team

Seven women have been found dead around Johannesburg’s OR Tambo international airport since July, five of them in the past week, and President Cyril Ramaphosa has directed police authorities to prioritise the murder investigations.

The body of Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo, a 38-year-old runner, was found on Saturday and identified by relatives on Monday. She did not return from a run on 9 September, and her eight-year-old daughter alerted relatives, who contacted police. The search for her drew wide attention after news of her disappearance spread on social media.

Gauteng police said in a statement on Saturday that four women’s bodies had been found in Kempton Park, across the highway from the airport, since 15 July. All four were found half-naked and with visible bruising. Two more bodies were found in Olifantsfontein, about 25km north of Kempton Park, on Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday, police said a further woman’s body had been found about 40km to the south-east, naked and decomposed.

As The Guardian reported on 16 September, the discoveries have prompted an outpouring of fear, grief and anger over the pace of the state’s response to violence against women. The facts of the cases are matters of police record and are reported here on that basis.

What police have confirmed

Specialist officers are investigating the deaths. In their Saturday statement, officers urged women in and around Kempton Park not to walk or run alone, particularly in isolated areas, to avoid secluded spaces and, where possible, to travel or exercise in groups.

Detectives said on Saturday they were examining a serial killer angle. On Monday, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe told reporters that nothing at that stage indicated a serial killer was at work. Mathe said a suspect in the July killing of the first woman, her boyfriend, was in custody.

On Tuesday, Ramaphosa said he had directed police authorities to prioritise the ongoing murder investigations.

The gender of the suspect or suspects in the remaining killings has not been confirmed.

The numbers behind the cases

South Africa records among the highest rates of femicide in the world. In the year to 31 March 2024, more than 27,600 people were murdered, 5,578 of them women, according to the latest police data.

For years, women’s organisations have called on the government to treat gender-based violence as a national emergency. After hundreds of women protested on the eve of the G20 summit in Johannesburg in November 2025, Ramaphosa declared gender-based violence and femicide a national crisis.

Campaigners say the gap between the declaration and day-to-day policing is where the cost is carried. The advocacy group Women For Change said it should not take a missing woman, a desperate family, runners and communities searching, and a case going viral before an area is searched with this intensity. The group said women are tired of being told to be vigilant when they are already doing everything possible to stay alive.

“In this country we are prey.”

That is how Sakane Mokoena, a friend and fellow runner, described the situation in an Instagram post after Moselakgomo’s death was confirmed. Mokoena met Moselakgomo about two years ago when she joined a running club so she would not have to train alone on Saturdays.

“She always spoke about her daughter,” Mokoena said. “Tsontso always said, bye guys, I have to go, I have to go to my child.”

Mokoena described her as light-spirited, funny, joyful and very kind. Running clubs around the country have organised events to remember her, and Mokoena said she hoped the attention would push the government and police to do more to protect women.

What men are being asked to do

Bafana Khumalo, a co-executive director of Sonke Gender Justice, said the responsibility for violence sits with men and that most men look the other way when it happens in front of them.

“You have excuses like, no, it’s not my business,” Khumalo said. “We feel strongly that violence against women is our business. We need, as men, to begin to face each other squarely and hold each other accountable.”

What happens next

The specialist investigation around OR Tambo continues, with the July case already before the courts through the suspect in custody. The other six deaths remain under investigation, and police have not said when they expect to make further arrests. Ramaphosa’s directive places the cases at the top of the police priority list, and the next public indication of progress will be the police’s own briefings on the task team’s work.

Source: The Guardian, ‘We are prey’: discovery of seven women’s bodies fuels anger over femicide in South Africa (16 September 2026).