Twelve women killed since July in Ekurhuleni: residents fear who is next

Twelve women. Two months. One stretch of road, park and riverbank after another in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, turned into a crime scene. For residents there, the question is no longer whether another woman will be found dead, but when.

Police confirmed three more bodies over the weekend, bringing the toll to twelve since mid-July. Communities around Kempton Park, and beyond, are alarmed and demanding answers. Arrests have been made in three of the twelve cases, though investigators say these appear unrelated to one another. Police have not ruled out the possibility that a serial killer is operating in the area, a prospect that has left residents on edge every time a new discovery is reported.

The fear sits inside a much larger national crisis. President Cyril Ramaphosa has called the killing of these women, and others, “a stain on our national conscience.” South Africa already carries one of the highest homicide rates in the world: 5,427 people were murdered between April and June this year alone, according to police statistics, which do not break victims down by gender. The South African Human Rights Commission filled that gap last week, reporting that 569 women were killed in that same three-month window. That works out to six women a day, every day, for three months straight.

The victims, so far, tell a grim and repetitive story. Busisiwe Mahlangu, 37, was the first, found naked in Kempton Park on 15 July 2026, her hands bound with cable ties; a suspect, believed to be her partner, was arrested two days later and remains in custody, with no link to the deaths that followed. Itumeleng Kekana, 32, vanished in July and was found on 3 August, badly bruised near a bridge in Kempton Park. No arrest has followed. Nomfesane Mjobo was found on 26 August, also in Kempton Park, with details scarce but injuries matching the pattern seen elsewhere.

What changed the public mood was Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo. The 38-year-old disappeared while out on her daily run near her Kempton Park home. Her body, badly bruised and partially clothed, was found on 12 September after a nationwide search that drew heavy media attention. Her death is widely seen as the moment the killings became a national story rather than a local one. No arrest has been made.

Between those cases came others: an unknown woman in her 20s pulled from a river in Olifantsfontein on 7 September; Gracious Nkomo, 28, found near South Africa’s busiest airport on 10 September; another unidentified woman in Olifantsfontein on 14 September, her name withheld pending family notification; Dineo Motapane, 38, found partly burned in Springs on 15 September, leaving behind a young child.

Not every case fits the same pattern. Jabulile Ntimba, found on 17 September in Boksburg, is believed to have died over a love triangle; two women now face premeditated murder charges after a third suspect was released for lack of evidence. Ntombifuthi Nxumalo was found stoned to death in a Tembisa cemetery on 26 September; a 36-year-old man was arrested a day later. Boitumelo Gift Mashita, 23, was shot on her way to work on 28 September, an apparent domestic case: her estranged husband, the suspected killer, was later found dead in his car in Midrand. Police say that case is unconnected to the others.

A further body, a young woman found wrapped in a duvet in a Soweto dam on 20 September, roughly 63 kilometres away, has deepened the uncertainty rather than resolved it.

Police have formed a task team and offered a 400,000 rand ($24,000; £18,000) reward for information. For the families burying these twelve women, and for a public watching the toll climb week by week, the demand is simple: protection, and answers, that so far have not kept pace with the deaths.