‘This is a war’: South Africa battles femicide as women’s bodies pile up

A ninth woman has been found dead in South Africa’s Ekurhuleni municipality in about two months, intensifying concerns over violence against women and prompting renewed scrutiny of the government’s response to the country’s femicide crisis.

The latest victim was found on Thursday morning in Dawn Park, a residential area of Boksburg, east of Johannesburg. The woman is believed to be in her thirties and was found half-naked and wrapped in a sheet. Police are investigating the deaths but have not established that all nine cases are connected.

“We are still investigating whether we are dealing with one perpetrator or a group of men that are behind the murders of these women,” South African Police Service spokesperson Athlenda Mathe told the Reuters news agency on September 15.

Mathe said investigators were also examining whether copycat crimes could be involved, but stressed that police had so far found no links between the cases.

“This is not an investigation that you can rush, because it is quite complex,” she said. “It may at this stage involve multiple perpetrators. But let’s leave it to the detectives.”

‘It feels like individuals are being hunted’

Princess Eurika Mogane, a commissioner at South Africa’s Commission for Gender Equality, told Al Jazeera the killings reflected a broader crisis facing women across the country.

“This is a war. It feels like individuals are being hunted,” Mogane said. “When someone is the hunter, [the] best thing that you can do is to ensure that the prey are protected.”

The National Shelter Movement of South Africa (NSMSA) says its 24-hour helpline and affiliated shelters are seeing women arrive with increasingly severe experiences of abuse, including death threats, stalking, strangulation, coercive control and repeated violations of protection orders.

“These are not isolated incidents,” the organisation told Al Jazeera in an emailed statement. “They are indicators of a broader crisis in which violence against women has become deeply normalised in many communities.”

‘Adjust our lives to perpetrators’

Police advice urging women not to walk or run alone and to avoid isolated areas following the killings has prompted criticism.

“A lot of the women in South Africa right now are saying, ‘You are basically telling us to adjust our lives to perpetrators,’” Mogane said.

The NSMSA said women alter their routes, avoid travelling at specific times, share their locations with loved ones and restrict their movements to try to stay safe.

“Safety messaging should not imply that women can prevent violence simply by making different choices,” the organisation told Al Jazeera. “The responsibility for violence lies with perpetrators, while the responsibility for protection lies with society and the state.”

Among the women discovered dead was Elizabeth Moselakgomo, a 38-year-old mother and runner who disappeared after leaving home in the Ekurhuleni municipality, east of Johannesburg, for her usual run about 5:30 pm on September 9.

Her eight-year-old daughter raised the alarm when her mother did not return. Moselakgomo was found dead three days later on September 12.

Nokukhanya Khanyile-Lenake, a specialist paediatrician and mental health advocate, told Al Jazeera that women, as it is, take multiple precautions to protect themselves “from the dangers of gender-based violence”.

What particularly struck her, Khanyile-Lenake said, was that Moselakgomo’s eight-year-old daughter “knew the danger signs and did the right thing”, realising her mother had not returned and notifying other family members.

“And that still wasn’t enough,” she said. “As women, we’ve done the maximum to the point where we’re even teaching our young children what to do, and it’s still not enough.

“What I saw was a woman who chose to take care of herself and make a decision she’s probably made a thousand times before, which is just to go for a run,” Khanyile-Lenake added.

‘If I leave today, can I survive?’

The killings come less than a year after South Africa classified gender-based violence and femicide as a national disaster in November 2025. South Africa’s parliament says the country’s femicide rate is five times the global average.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has pledged that perpetrators will face justice, while authorities say police patrols and deployments have been increased in high-risk areas.

But Mogane questioned what had materially changed since the national disaster classification.

“The declaration is there. But what progress has there been?” she said, pointing to the need for more forensic facilities and shelters for survivors.

The NSMSA said shelters continue to face inadequate and inconsistent funding, rising demand and capacity constraints, while survivors report delays in police responses and difficulties obtaining or enforcing protection orders.

Leaving an abusive relationship can itself be one of the most dangerous periods for a woman, the organisation said, with survivors often simultaneously needing police protection, emergency accommodation, transport, healthcare, childcare and financial support.

“For many women, the fundamental question remains unchanged: ‘If I leave today, can I survive financially, find safe accommodation, and remain protected from my abuser?’” the NSMSA said.

Al Jazeera asked the South African government what measures it has taken since the national disaster classification and for its response to criticism of its handling of violence against women, but had not received a response by the time of publication.