Ulundi detectives arrest 36-year-old man linked by DNA to 14 rapes dating back to 2010

Detectives from the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit in Ulundi have arrested a 36-year-old man in connection with the rape of 14 women across the Zululand District and Gauteng, the South African Police Service said in a statement.

The arrest was made on Sunday, 20 September 2026 in the Ncotshane area of Nongoma.

According to SAPS, the man began in January 2010 with the rape of a woman at Mahlabathini. Police closed in on him and arrested him at the time, but he was released on bail. He absconded from court and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

While out on bail, SAPS says, he raped seven women in Pongola, four women in Primrose and Germiston in Gauteng, and one woman each in the Paulpietersburg and Magudu policing precincts.

His method, as described in the statement, was to break a window or a door at the home of a woman living alone and threaten her with a knife.

During the 2010 arrest, police collected evidence, and SAPS says investigations linked him to all the cases through DNA analysis.

The suspect is due to appear in the Mahlabathini Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 21 September 2026 for his failure to appear in court in 2010. SAPS says he will thereafter be formally charged for the other 13 rape cases.

The statement was issued by the Office of the Provincial Commissioner in KwaZulu-Natal and carries the name of Colonel Robert Netshiunda as the enquiries contact. It is a summary of the police account rather than the court record, and the charges have not yet been put to the suspect in court.

Source: South African Police Service (SAPS), Another suspected serial rapist arrested for raping fourteen women in Zululand and Gauteng Province