‘We’re terrified all the time’: Fear and anger in South Africa after nine women’s bodies found in three months

O n September 9, Elizabeth Moselakgomo left her home in East Johannesburg to go for a run.

When the 38 year-old mother didn’t return home, her eight year-old daughter told relatives, who then contacted police. During her disappearance, family and friends made public appeals to help find her, the case went viral on social media and police launched a task force to investigate.

Five days after she vanished, her body was discovered in a park , half-naked and bruised.

Ms Moselakgomo is one of nine women found dead in the region in recent months in similar circumstances. The first body was discovered in July, naked and bound with cable ties, with two more discovered shortly after but drawing little attention at the time.

“We cannot continue picking up bodies,” said Tebello Mosikili, the deputy police chief, at the scene of the discovery in Dawn Park on Thursday.

It is not yet clear if the cases are connected and police have yet to rule out a potential serial killer.

Regardless, South African women and advocacy groups say the cases highlight the wider epidemic of femicide across the country, with widespread anger that more has not been done to tackle the problem.

In November 2025, president Cyril Ramaphosa officially declared gender-based violence and femicide a national disaster, after campaigning by Women For Change.

According to official statistics by the South African Police Service (SAPS), at least 5,578 women were murdered in a year in South Africa between March 2023 and March 2024, after which figures have not been released.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime says that the female homicide rate in South Africa is six times the global average at 12.2 per 100,000 women in 2022, with the global average being 2.2.

Police advised women not to run or walk alone in response to the recent killings, prompting swift backlash. President Ramaphosa promised “no stone would be left unturned” in the quest for answers.

Merlize Jogiat, operations and advocacy manager at Women For Change, says that the charity received 3,000 requests for support between Monday and Wednesday this week alone.

Since launching their Survivor Support Line in April 2026, they have had more than 40,000 messages by women and girls on everything from domestic violence, child sexual abuse, as well as the families of femicide victims.

“We speak to families of femicide victims, almost on a daily basis,” says Jogiat. “Rape cases are through the roof. I don’t know a single woman that has not to some degree been sexually harassed, abused, or raped.”