A ninth woman’s body has been found in Ekurhuleni, discovered in the Dawn Park area of Boksburg on Thursday morning and bringing the number of women found dead across the metro since July to nine.
The woman was found half-naked and wrapped in a sheet on the side of the road. Gauteng acting provincial commissioner Major General Fred Kekana confirmed the discovery, saying preliminary information suggested the body had been dumped at the location where it was found. Her identity had not yet been released.
The find comes a day after Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia announced that SAPS would lock down parts of Ekurhuleni, and follows the identification, on Wednesday, of 38 year old Dineo Evelyn Motapane, whose body was found earlier in the week in KwaThema, Springs, one of the locations named in our earlier report.
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Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane said one person had been arrested in connection with one of the killings, dating back to July, and that a second person of interest was being traced. It remains unclear which of the nine cases either individual is linked to. SAPS has assembled a multidisciplinary investigative team, which is now examining the Dawn Park case alongside the eight others.
A R400,000 SAPS reward is on offer for information leading to arrests, and the Democratic Alliance has added a further R500,000 of its own.
Over the weekend, Kekana urged women and girls to take extra precautions while exercising or walking alone as the investigation continues.
“This is not about restricting the freedom of women to move, exercise or live their lives,” Kekana said.
The South African Human Rights Commission has separately condemned the deaths, saying the country remains an unsafe place for women, and announced a national inquiry into gender based violence. The commission cited its own figures showing 569 women were killed nationally between April and June this year.
