The killing fields

Nine women have been found dead across Ekurhuleni in just two months, including a mother who went out for a run and never returned.

Recent official statistics show fewer than two in five South Africans feel safe walking alone after dark.

The discovery of the ninth body in Dawn Park, Boksburg, on Thursday widened an investigation that began in July and has stretched across Kempton Park, Olifantsfontein, Clayville, Kwa-Thema and other parts of Ekurhuleni.

The latest victim was found partially naked and preliminary investigations indicated that her body had been dumped at the scene.

Police have mobilised a multidisciplinary team to investigate the deaths and determine whether some of the cases are connected.

The investigation comes against a bleak national backdrop.

Statistics South Africa’s latest Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey found that while 80.7% of people aged 16 and older felt safe walking alone in their neighbourhoods during the day, that figure collapsed to just 37.9% after dark.

Almost half of South Africans, 46.6%, said they had taken measures to protect themselves against crime.

Of those taking precautions, 31.5% resorted to walking only during what they considered safer hours.

For the family of 38-year-old Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo, the danger behind those statistics became devastatingly real.

Moselakgomo went out for her usual run in Rhodesfield, Kempton Park, on September 9. She never returned home.

Her eight-year-old daughter reportedly raised the alarm when her mother failed to come back.

Moselakgomo’s body was subsequently found behind a hotel in Rhodesfield.

Her killing has resonated particularly strongly among runners, with running clubs holding events in her memory.

But Moselakgomo is only one name behind an expanding police investigation.

Among the other identified women are 32-year-old Itumeleng Kekana, 38-year-old Dineo Evelyn Motapane and 28-year-old Gracious Nkomo.

Kekana had been missing for more than two weeks before her body was discovered in Pomona.

Motapane was last seen alive on a Sunday. Her body was discovered beside a road in Kwa-Thema two days later and her family subsequently identified her at the Springs Mortuary.

Police said her family had not reported her missing when her body was found.

Nkomo’s family identified her after her partially clothed body was found along the R21 on September 10.

Some of the other victims remain unidentified.

The first known body in the group of cases now under investigation was discovered near the R21 in Kempton Park on July 15.

Further discoveries followed through August and September.

Several victims have been found naked or partially clothed. Some had visible injuries, while the circumstances differed in other cases.

Police have, therefore, cautioned against concluding that one person is responsible for all the deaths.

Investigators are examining possible connections but forensic and detective work has yet to establish that all the women were killed by the same offender.

A suspect was arrested in connection with the first July murder and remains in custody.

However, police have not established that the suspect is responsible for the other deaths.

Investigators are also pursuing a person of interest.

The killings have landed in a country where fear of crime determines when many people are prepared to walk outside.

Stats SA’s 2025/26 survey found that the proportion of people taking measures to protect themselves against crime increased from 43.3% the previous year to 46.6%.

The figures expose a dramatic difference between daylight and darkness.

While more than eight in 10 South Africans feel safe walking alone during the day, barely four in 10 say the same after dark.

The survey further found that 408 000 people experienced assault during 2025/26, up from 363 000 the previous year.

Men experienced assault more frequently but the relationship between attacker and victim exposed a stark gender divide.

Almost one in three female assault victims, 31.4%, said the perpetrator was a spouse or intimate partner.

Among the male victims, the corresponding figure was just 2.2%.

The National Council said South Africa has legislation, a National Strategic Plan on Gender-based Violence and Femicide and now a statutory council established specifically because violence against women cannot be accepted as an ordinary feature of society.