Tenth woman found dead in South Africa’s string of killings

• South African police found the tenth woman’s body in Ekurhuleni, raising fears over a string of killings amid ongoing investigations and arrests of several suspects.
• Victims, mostly young women, were often found stripped and sexually assaulted, with police offering rewards totalling over US$69,000 for information.
• Gender-based violence remains a national crisis, with the GBV Command Centre reporting a 21% rise in distress calls, highlighting the country’s severe safety challenges.

TEMBISA, South Africa - South African police on Sept 26 found another body in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, bringing to 10 the number of women found dead in the municipality over the past two months.

The discovery adds to growing concern over violence against women in a country long plagued by violent crime, while police work to establish whether the killings are connected.

The semi-naked body was found near a cemetery in the Tembisa township, police said.

“At this stage, we can only confirm the discovery of the body. Crime scene management and all the necessary role players are currently on the scene,” police spokeswoman Brenda Muridili said.

Provincial police chief Tommy Mthombeni said the victim appeared to have been stoned to death, and a post-mortem examination will be conducted.

“We have put highly capable investigators on this case,” he told reporters at the scene, vowing to find those responsible for the killings.

The nine other victims were mostly in their 20s and 30s, with some found stripped of their clothes and showing signs of sexual assault.

The first victim, a 37-year-old woman, was found nude and bound with cable ties on July 15. A suspect was arrested two days later.

Two other suspects, women aged 31 and 38, were arrested in connection with the ninth victim and charged on Sept 21.

Police have said that the killing may have stemmed from a relationship-related matter.

Police have offered a 400,000 rand (S$30,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of the killer or killers, while the Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s second-largest political party, has put up a further US$31,000 (S$39,000).

Gender-based violence is endemic in South Africa, despite years of government pledges to tackle the problem and the declaration of such violence as a national disaster.

Last week, the South African government said the national Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Command Centre received 6,782 distress calls between Sept 1 and 16, an average of 424 a day.

That was a 21 per cent increase from the same period in August, when the centre averaged 350 calls a day.

South Africa, a nation of 62 million people, has one of the world’s highest murder rates, with more than 60 killings a day on average. AFP