Acting police minister Feroz Cachalia said the deaths of eight women remind the nation that women are unsafe in South Africa.
Neeshan Balton Picture: Neil McCartney
The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation has condemned the “horrific murders” of women in Kempton Park and Olifantsfontein, demanding urgent action and accountability in tackling South Africa’s gender‑based violence and femicide crisis.
The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation has expressed outrage and deep sorrow following the discovery of six women’s bodies in Kempton Park and Olifantsfontein over the past two months, including local runner Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo, whose body was found behind a hotel in Rhodesfield on Saturday, 12 September.
Just two days later, another unidentified woman was discovered bruised and partially clothed on the roadside in Olifantsfontein.
Women ‘unsafe’
On Tuesday, 15 September 2026, another woman’s body was found in Ekurhuleni, bringing the tally of tragic discoveries to eight in two months, as the police offer a R400 000 reward and deploy a high-level team.
Acting police minister Feroz Cachalia said the deaths of eight women in these circumstances remind the nation that women are unsafe in South Africa.
“The thought that someone can go out on a run to participate in a happy event, never to return home, is too unbearable to think about,” Cachalia said.
Failures
Foundation Executive Director Neeshan Balton said the killings highlight systemic failures in protecting women.
“We cannot accept a society where women live in perpetual terror. The responsibility to secure our streets must rest squarely on the state and law enforcement, not on women being forced to modify their basic freedoms just to survive,” he said.
GBVF
Balton stressed that gender‑based violence and femicide (GBVF) is a national crisis that requires decisive intervention.
“The principles of human dignity, justice and equality-values for which Ahmed Kathrada and countless struggle stalwarts fought-cannot exist while women are systematically murdered. We demand urgent accountability and action.”
Demands
The Foundation outlined four demands:
- Comprehensive investigation: The SAPS multidisciplinary task team must be fully resourced to track down and prosecute those responsible.
- Crime‑fighting infrastructure: Gauteng authorities must account for visible policing, surveillance and technology deployment in hotspots like Rhodesfield and the R21 corridor.
- Institutional accountability: Oversight bodies must investigate delays in warnings and communication when patterns of killings first emerged.
- Societal intervention: Men, businesses and communities must actively dismantle misogyny and violence.
Justice
Balton added: “We stand in absolute solidarity with civil society movements, taxi operators and residents who are demanding justice. We will not look away, and we will not remain silent while women are being hunted down.
“Violence against women is not just a policing issue-it is a societal crisis that men must confront head‑on.”
The Foundation said the Tribunal process and investigations must be transparent, independent and swift, ensuring justice for the victims and safety for women across South Africa.
