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A memorial run in Johannesburg on Saturday honoured victim Elizabeth Moselakgomo, who disappeared while running and whose body was found days later showing signs of assault, according to Reuters. Demonstrators carried banners reading “Enough. Stop Femicide” as part of wider vigils and marches that spread to Cape Town and other cities, Reuters reported.
Police discovered the latest body on September 17 in Dawn Park, Boksburg, with the unidentified woman believed to be around 30 years old, partially clothed and stabbed, Al Jazeera reported. Most of the nine victims were in their 20s and 30s, and several showed signs of sexual assault with some found stripped of clothing, according to police statements compiled by multiple outlets including the BBC and The Washington Post. Authorities are investigating possible links between the cases while confirming one suspect, described as a foreigner, has been arrested in connection with the first discovery in Kempton Park in July, Reuters detailed.
The killings have intensified national focus on gender-based violence in a nation with one of the world’s highest femicide rates. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime data places the rate at 12.2 women killed per 100,000 in 2022, nearly six times the global average. A South African Medical Research Council study from 2024 estimated nearly seven women were murdered each day in 2020 and 2021, with 60 percent killed by intimate partners.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday that South Africa could not grow accustomed to such violence and pledged no stone would be left unturned in the investigations, according to statements reported by Reuters and Al Jazeera. The government declared gender-based violence and femicide a national disaster in November 2025, yet activists maintain that promised measures have not translated into greater safety on the ground. The Uyinene Mrwetyana Foundation said in a statement, “Enough is enough. Our women deserve to live, walk, run and exist without fear.”
Amnesty International has urged authorities to recognise femicide as a separate crime, describing every day without such recognition as a failure to confront the targeted killing of women, the BBC reported. A commissioner with the Commission for Gender Equality told Al Jazeera the situation feels like a war in which women are being hunted. Protesters expressed frustration with repeated official advice for women to remain vigilant, arguing such guidance ignores how they already modify daily routines to avoid harm, The Guardian noted.
South African Police Service figures show 50,511 gender-based violence and femicide cases were recorded in the 2025-26 financial year, with only 30,736 resulting in arrests or referrals to prosecutors, according to reports citing police data. The National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, established under recent legislation, is intended to coordinate a multisector response across government departments. Community organisations in Kempton Park have held demonstrations outside local police stations demanding increased patrols, better lighting in public spaces and faster accountability for perpetrators.
