At least 11 women have been discovered dead across Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, since July, exposing the scale of violence against women and accusations governments are failing to protect them.
The grim sequence intensified in September, when six bodies were found within a 10-day span. Many of the victims were discovered in public spaces and along roadsides, frequently showing signs of sexual violence.
Among the victims was 38-year-old Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo, who left her Kempton Park home for a routine run on September 9 and never returned. When she failed to come home, her eight-year-old daughter raised the alarm. Three days later, search parties found her body behind a hotel in Rhodesfield.
Her disappearance went viral on social media, drawing family, friends, and local runners into a public search operation. That mobilization eventually forced wider attention from security agencies, who expanded their search parameters around Johannesburg’s international airport and uncovered additional bodies, including women who had not been reported missing.
Two more bodies were discovered on September 14 and 15 in Olifantsfontein. Shortly after, a naked and decomposing body was recovered nearby, bringing the number of bodies recovered in the area to seven in just a few weeks. Police noted that several victims were found partially clothed or naked with visible bruising.
These recent discoveries build upon a string of earlier violent deaths investigated by regional authorities. On July 15, the bound body of a 37-year-old woman was found in Kempton Park, prompting the arrest of a suspect believed to be her boyfriend. Weeks later, 32-year-old Itumeleng Kekana vanished in Kempton Park on July 17, and her body was recovered on August 3. Another partially-clothed body of a 32-year-old woman was discovered nearby on August 24, followed by an unidentified woman found on September 10.
Decades of Systemic Vulnerability and Institutional Response
The recent killings have deepened fear among women in the region, with local police advising residents to avoid exercising alone in isolated areas. Yet this violence sits atop a longstanding crisis. South Africa has had one of the world’s highest rates of femicide for decades.
Research published by the South African Medical Research Council estimated that 2,407 women aged 14 and older were murdered in 2017, translating to roughly seven deaths every day, with 1,029 killed by intimate partners. By the 2020/21 period, figures remained virtually unchanged at 2,409 murders, with approximately 60 percent perpetrated by intimate partners. While overall femicide rates declined from 24.7 per 100,000 women in 1999 to 11.2 in 2017, intimate-partner killings remain stubbornly high, and murders committed by unidentified perpetrators have doubled. Moreover, fewer than 20 percent of intimate-partner femicide cases from the 2020/21 study resulted in a conviction.
Political pressure peaked in November 2025 when hundreds of women staged protests outside Johannesburg ahead of the G20 summit, demanding that gender-based violence and femicide be classified as a national emergency. The government subsequently declared the crisis a national disaster, increasing resources for police forces and expanding sexual offenses courts.
Despite these interventions, the recent surge in Ekurhuleni has raised questions over whether current measures actively prevent violence or merely react after attacks occur. In an address to the nation on September 29, President Cyril Ramaphosa described the violence as a “national shame,” announcing reviews of unresolved murders, attempted murders, rapes and serious sexual offences involving women and children, an audit of unsafe public spaces, and fresh strategies to combat alcohol-fueled violence.
| Metric / Region | Reported Data & Context | Official / Institutional Response |
|---|---|---|
| South Africa (Ekurhuleni) | At least 11 bodies discovered since July; victims include Elizabeth Moselakgomo and Itumeleng Kekana. | National disaster declared; President Cyril Ramaphosa announced case reviews and public safety audits in a national address. |
| Cameroon | Human Rights Watch documented multiple killings between August 6 and August 26; Ministry reported 50 cases between January and April 2026. | Ministry of Women’s Empowerment noted that reported figures represent only the tip of the iceberg due to social stigma. |
| Nigeria | FAME Foundation recorded 54 femicide and gender-related killing cases from January to June 2026. | Advocacy groups highlight the absence of a centralized femicide database, leaving many cases undocumented. |
| Ghana | Anti-Human Trafficking Unit rescued 33 individuals, including children, in an August weekend operation. | Rescue operations supported by organizations like Challenging Heights targeting structured trafficking and exploitation rings. |
Transnational Dimensions of Gender-Based Violence
The crisis is not isolated to South Africa. Across several African nations, women and girls face severe overlapping forms of violence, including domestic femicide, trafficking, and commercial exploitation.
In Cameroon, Human Rights Watch documented a wave of killings between August 6 and August 26. Incidents included a butcher murdering his wife in Logpom, Douala, in front of their three children, a woman decapitated by her children’s father, and a pregnant woman killed by her boyfriend following a domestic dispute. Cameroon’s Minister of Women’s Empowerment reported 50 femicide cases between January and April 2026, following annual totals of 56 in 2023, 67 in 2024, and 77 in 2025, cautioning that these numbers conceal an immense hidden toll shaped by fear and social stigma.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s FAME Foundation documented 54 femicide and gender-related killings of women and girls between January and June 2026. Husbands were implicated in 12 of the cases and boyfriends in eight. The organization emphasized that these figures reflect only publicly tracked incidents, pointing to the absence of a centralized database that leaves numerous violent deaths unrecorded.
In Ghana, the crisis intersects with organized trafficking and sexual exploitation. During an operation in August, the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, backed by Challenging Heights, rescued 33 individuals, including children. Survivors detailed structured operations involving systematic recruitment, transportation oversight, financial targets, and physical punishment.
For families searching for missing relatives or demanding systemic accountability across the continent, the central challenge remains whether regional governments can bridge the gap between emergency disaster declarations and effective, proactive prevention.
