Police in South Africa found the body of a woman at a cemetery in Tembisa, northeast of Johannesburg, on Saturday morning. The discovery raised the total number of women found dead in the Ekurhuleni area in recent months to 10.
The woman was identified by a friend who had been with her at a bar the night before. The friend recognised her clothes from the previous evening when shown a picture of the body. “I don’t know what I’m going to say to her children,” she told the South African national broadcaster SABC, wiping away tears. “It’s painful.”
Gauteng Police Commissioner Tommy Mthombeni said the investigation was still in its early stages and it was too soon to link this death to the others found in the area. He noted that the other bodies shared a “similar victimology” and a “modus operandi” of killing, factors that could help police determine if the latest death was connected.
“For now, it’s not something which we can overrule to say there’s a serial killer, but we cannot conclusively indicate as such,” Lt Gen Mthombeni said.
The 10 other bodies were found under similar circumstances since July, mostly in Kempton Park, a neighbourhood just next to Tembisa. Many of the victims were young women who had suffered extreme violence before their deaths.
The discovery has intensified public outrage in South Africa, where the rate of gender-based violence ranks among the highest worldwide. The killings come less than a year after the national government declared gender-based violence a national disaster.
Between April and June this year, South Africa recorded 5,427 murders overall. The South African Human Rights Commission reported last week that 569 women were killed and 1,052 women survived attempted murder during that period. Police statistics do not specifically break down homicide victims by gender, but these figures point to the scale of violence women face.
Three men appeared in court earlier this week accused of involvement in one of the previous nine murders in the area. Police are continuing their efforts to track down others who may be connected.
Crime scene investigators were at the Tembisa cemetery on Saturday collecting evidence. Officials have not yet publicly identified the latest victim.
The killings in Ekurhuleni and Soweto have shaken communities and raised urgent questions about safety for women in Johannesburg’s outskirts. The police continue to investigate whether the deaths are linked or the work of more than one perpetrator.
According to Joy Online.
