‘We are not safe’: Residents call for soldiers after ninth woman found dead in Ekurhuleni

Residents of Dawn Park in Ekurhuleni are calling for the deployment of soldiers after the body of a woman was found partially naked with her throat slit on Thursday morning.

Residents of Dawn Park in Ekurhuleni are calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to deploy soldiers to the area to assist police with security after the body of a ninth woman, was found in the metro in nine weeks.

The woman, believed to be about 30, was found partially naked in an open space on Lama Street in the Villa Lisa area of Boksburg on Thursday morning.

When the IOL team arrived in the morning, residents wearing slippers, dressing gowns and blankets rushed to the area to find out what had happened.

Police said preliminary information indicated that the woman had been killed elsewhere and her body dumped in Dawn Park.

Residents said the discovery had heightened fears about safety in the area.

Resident Zizipho Ntoyanto, 35, said the locals rushed to the scene after hearing that a woman had been found dead.

“We heard she’s from the area, but I don’t know her. We are scared and living in fear. We are not safe at all,” she told IOL.

Ntoyanto said women and children were particularly vulnerable, including those travelling to work and school early in the morning.

She called on Ramaphosa to deploy soldiers to patrol the area and assist police.

Another resident, Thebelihle Mthethwa, 48, said women no longer felt safe.

“The way things are happening, we are very concerned as women. We don’t feel safe anymore,” she said.

Mthethwa also called for soldiers to work alongside police to improve security.

Deputy national police commissioner Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili, who was at the scene, said police teams investigating the killings were capable of solving the cases.