The discovery of another woman’s body in KwaThema, Springs, on Tuesday, 15 September has brought the number of women’s bodies reported in the wider area to eight in approximately two months.
The latest discovery follows four bodies found in the Kempton Park area and a fifth discovered in Olifantsfontein, prompting the South African Police Service (SAPS) to establish a dedicated multidisciplinary task team.
While similarities in some of the cases have raised concern, police have not confirmed that the deaths are connected or that a serial killer is responsible.
Eight deaths, but no confirmed connection
SAPS said on 14 September that four women’s bodies had been discovered in the Kempton Park area over approximately two months, with the latest of those discoveries made on Saturday evening.
According to police, detectives had identified concerning similarities in the circumstances surrounding the deaths. The women were found partially clothed and with visible bruising, while the discovery sites were located within the same vicinity.
These similarities prompted police to intensify their investigation and issue a public warning to women in and around Kempton Park, particularly Rhodesfield.
The number rose again when a fifth body was discovered in Olifantsfontein on Monday, 14 September. eNCA reported that police had also confirmed that most of the victims in the Kempton Park killings had been sexually assaulted.
A sixth body was discovered in KwaThema, Springs, on Tuesday, 15 September. The area is about 45km from Kempton Park, where four women’s bodies were found over two months.
eNCA reported that the woman was found naked and in a decomposed state.
Investigators are working to establish the circumstances surrounding each death and whether the cases are connected.
The growing number of cases has intensified concern across the wider Ekurhuleni area, but the circumstances of each death still have to be established. The proximity of some of the discoveries has raised questions about whether there is a common thread, while investigators continue to work through the evidence.
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Police are investigating, not naming a serial killer
The language surrounding the deaths is very important. Although the possibility of a serial killer has entered public discussion, it has not been established by investigators.
SAPS said it had not, at that stage, confirmed that the deaths were linked to a serial killer. The similarities were serious enough to warrant a public warning and an intensified investigation, but police said a dedicated team had been tasked with determining whether there were links between the incidents.
The Citizen reported that a person close to the investigation said the Kempton Park station commander had told a closed meeting on Monday that police did not believe there was sufficient evidence at that point to conclude that a serial killer was responsible. According to the report, the cases did not all share the same modus operandi.
People close to the investigation also told The Citizen that differences between the deaths had complicated attempts to establish a common thread, despite the victims all being women and several bodies being discovered around the R21 and surrounding Kempton Park area.
Ultimately, evidence must determine whether these cases belong to one investigation or several.
For the families of the women, however, the uncertainty does not lessen the reality of the loss. Each body was an individual life, and each investigation carries its own unanswered questions about what happened and whether someone could have intervened before another woman died.
A task team has been established
Acting National Commissioner of the SAPS, Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane, directed the Gauteng Provincial Commissioner to establish a dedicated multidisciplinary task team to investigate the cases and determine whether there are links between them.
The team includes detectives from specialised units, including the Murder and Robbery Unit and the Investigative Psychology Unit, alongside other relevant disciplines and resources. It is being led by Gauteng Deputy Provincial Commissioner Major General Mbuso Khumalo, who has been tasked with ensuring that all investigative avenues are pursued.
Police have also appealed to residents, motorists, security personnel and other members of the community who may have witnessed suspicious activity in Rhodesfield and surrounding areas to come forward. Information can be provided to Warrant Officer Elvis Manyike or anonymously through the MySAPS app.
The investigation therefore has two immediate questions to answer: what happened to each of the women, and is there evidence connecting their deaths?
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Women are warned, again
SAPS has urged women in and around Kempton Park, particularly in Rhodesfield, not to walk or run alone, especially in isolated areas. Women have also been advised to avoid secluded spaces, remain vigilant and, where possible, travel or exercise in groups.
As immediate safety advice, the warning is understandable. Police are investigating deaths whose circumstances have not yet been fully established, and residents need to know what precautions they can take while that work continues.
But there is something chilling beneath those instructions.
For women in South Africa, caution has become a kind of second language. It starts from the moment we leave home, with the mental calculation of which road feels safe and who should know where you are going.
A walk is no longer simply a walk. A run is accompanied by an assessment of surroundings and escape routes. Even familiar places can feel unfamiliar when a woman knows that another woman has not made it home.
The anger behind the warnings
When women are killed, the language of protection so often arrives as a list of things women must do differently. Do not walk alone. Do not run alone. Avoid isolated spaces. Stay alert.
Amnesty International South Africa criticised this approach in a media statement issued on 15 September. Responding to the discovery of the sixth body, its Executive Director, Shenilla Mohamed, said: “Women being told not to walk or run alone is not the answer, and is not protection.”
The advice may be practical, but practicality does not make the underlying reality any less painful. As much as precaution can reduce immediate risk, it also cannot be a substitute for confronting the violence itself. Women are being asked to adapt their movements around the possibility of violence committed by someone else.
That is why women are angry again.
It is the anger of having ordinary freedoms constantly measured against the possibility of being harmed. It is the question of why the burden of anticipating violence so often rests with the person who might suffer it, but not with the society and institutions responsible for preventing it and bringing perpetrators to account.
Women should be able to walk through their neighbourhoods without having to calculate the risk attached to every stretch of road. They should be able to run without treating solitude as a potential threat. They should not have to organise their lives around the possibility that someone else may decide that their lives are disposable.
If the women of your country are not safe to be independent, how will the future generations of this country become independent?
The investigations must remain evidence-led. No responsible account can declare that six deaths were committed by one person when police have not established that. But neutrality about the facts should not require indifference to what those facts mean for women living in the area.
The bodies are women. The fear is being carried by women. And once again, the first instruction is directed at women.
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The need for answers
“Women are tired of platitudes.” Shenilla Mohamed, Executive Director of Amnesty International South Africa, said. Women want to know what will be done to make women and children safe in South Africa, rather than receiving condolences without action.
For now, it would be too soon to give the deaths a single explanation. Police have not established that they were committed by one person, and The Citizen’s reporting indicates that investigators are dealing with differences between the cases as they search for a common thread.
Until that work is done, speculation cannot substitute for evidence. But neither should uncertainty make the fear surrounding these deaths easier to dismiss.
Eight women are dead. Eight women who probably had as many aspirations, as many goals, and as many loved ones as every other person reading this.
The investigation may yet reveal eight separate stories or a connection that has not been established. But for now, women in the area are left with warnings. And what they need, ultimately, are answers.
Image: Pixabay
