Six women's bodies found in Ekurhuleni since July, police team to brief Cachalia

SABC News reports that Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia and Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane are due to meet the investigating team on Tuesday afternoon over the discovery of women’s bodies around the Kempton Park vicinity. The original report can be read here.

The meeting is expected to give the two a detailed briefing on where the investigation stands, the evidence gathered so far, and what is being done to identify and apprehend those responsible.

It follows the discovery of another woman’s body in Kwa-Thema, Springs, in Ekurhuleni on Tuesday morning. That brings to six the number of women’s bodies found in Ekurhuleni since July this year.

What the police ministry says

Police Ministry spokesperson Kamogelo Mogotsi said the discovery of multiple women murdered in the Kempton Park area is deeply disturbing.

Mogotsi said that while the investigation must establish whether the cases are linked, the possibility that a perpetrator or perpetrators may be targeting women demands urgent and determined attention.

He said the meeting with the investigating team will allow the ministry to assess the progress of the investigation and to make sure all necessary resources and operational support are being brought to bear. He appealed to anyone with information that may assist the investigation to come forward through the appropriate police channels.

A Kwa-Thema councillor believes the woman whose body was found there on Tuesday was dumped at the scene.

The pattern the reader should hold

Six bodies in one metro in under three months is the number that matters here, and it is the reason the two most senior police figures in the country are sitting down with the team this afternoon rather than waiting for a routine progress report.

What is not yet established is whether the cases are linked. The ministry has put that question squarely inside the investigation, and until the team answers it, the families of five other women are waiting on the same briefing the minister will receive.

The police have said they will leave nothing to chance. The test of that is not the briefing but what follows it, and the record that will show whether the evidence gathered so far turns into an arrest.

The Enquirer has asked Gauteng SAPS for the number of detectives assigned to the team, the dates on which each of the six bodies was found, and whether a task team has been formally established. We will publish the answers when they come.

Anyone with information can contact the SAPS Crime Stop number, 08600 10111, or use the MySAPS app.