Police in South Africa have confirmed the discovery of three more female bodies in the Ekurhuleni municipality east of Johannesburg, bringing the total number of women found dead in the area to 12 since July. The latest remains were recovered between Saturday and Monday morning, according to local law enforcement, deepening a crisis that has alarmed residents and renewed scrutiny of violence against women in the country.
The string of discoveries began on 15 July, when the body of 37-year-old Busisiwe Mahlangu was found in Kempton Park. She was located naked with her hands bound by cable ties. Police arrested a suspect, understood to be her partner, two days later. He has remained in custody since and has not been connected to any of the subsequent deaths, making her case the first in a sequence that authorities still treat as potentially separate incidents.
The second victim, 32-year-old Itumeleng Kekana, was found on 3 August in the same area. A young mother, she had disappeared in July, and her body was discovered badly bruised, partially clothed, and abandoned on a bridge in Kempton Park. No arrests have been made in connection with her death, leaving her family without answers more than two months later.
On 26 August, the body of Nomfesane Mjobo was recovered, again in Kempton Park. Police have released few details about the circumstances of her death, though they have noted that, as with most of the victims, she was found partially or fully naked and bearing bruises. No one has been arrested in her case.
The fourth set of remains was confirmed on 7 September, when police announced the discovery of an unidentified woman in her twenties floating in a river in Olifantsfontein. She was wearing only her underwear. Authorities have shared no further information about her death, and no arrests have been made.
Five days later, on 10 September, the partially clothed body of 28-year-old Gracious Nkomo was found along a road near South Africa's busiest airport. Her death remains unsolved, with no arrests reported. The proximity of the discovery to OR Tambo International Airport underscored how the killings were occurring in busy, populated areas rather than remote locations.
The case that most dramatically escalated public alarm was that of Elizabeth "Tsontso" Moselakgomo, a 38-year-old avid runner who disappeared while on her daily run near her home in Kempton Park. Her body was found badly bruised and partially clothed on 12 September, following a highly publicised nationwide search. Her death prompted memorial runs in Johannesburg and turned national attention to the pattern of violence in Ekurhuleni. No arrests have been made.
Just two days later, on 14 September, police confirmed another body had been found in Olifantsfontein. The woman has not been named because her family had not yet been informed. No arrests have been made in that case either.
On 15 September, the body of 38-year-old Dineo Motapane was discovered just two days after she was last seen alive. Her battered and partly burned remains were found on the side of the road in Springs, another community within Ekurhuleni. She leaves behind a young child. Police have not made any arrests.
Two days later, on 17 September, the body of Jabulile Ntimba, in her thirties, was found half-naked and wrapped in a sheet beside a road in Boksburg. Her case took a different investigative turn: police indicated she appeared to have been killed in connection with a possible love triangle. Three people — two women and a man — were initially arrested. The man was later released due to insufficient evidence, while the two women face charges of premeditated murder and defeating the ends of justice.
The tenth victim was identified as Ntombifuthi Nxumalo, whose body was discovered at a cemetery in the Tembisa neighbourhood north-east of central Johannesburg on 26 September. She was found naked with serious head injuries and stones lying near her body, leading police to suspect she may have been stoned to death. A 36-year-old man was arrested a day later after travelling to another province, and he faces a murder charge.
The eleventh body, that of a woman who has not yet been identified, was found in Springs on Sunday. The twelfth was confirmed among the three additional discoveries announced Monday, though the source material provides no further identifying details about the final victims.
While police have made arrests in three of the cases, they have stated that those cases do not appear related to one another. Crucially, however, investigators have acknowledged they cannot rule out the possibility that a serial killer is responsible for some of the deaths. That admission has fuelled fear across Ekurhuleni, particularly around Kempton Park, where many of the bodies were found.
The killings have unfolded against a backdrop of longstanding concern about high rates of violence against women in South Africa. Activists have long argued that gender-based violence is under-reported, under-investigated, and insufficiently punished, and the sheer concentration of cases in a single municipality over roughly ten weeks has intensified demands for a coordinated police response and greater government action.
For the families of the victims, the wait for justice continues. Only a handful of cases have produced arrests, and most remain unsolved. Community members in Kempton Park, Springs, Boksburg, Tembisa, and Olifantsfontein are now pressing authorities for transparency, faster investigations, and clearer answers about whether the deaths are the work of one perpetrator or several. As police continue to recover bodies and appeal for information, the region remains on edge, with women in particular fearing that the pattern of violence shows no sign of abating.
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