Police in South Africa have announced the discovery of another body in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, raising the number of women found dead there in recent months to ten.
The body was located Saturday morning at a cemetery in the Tembisa neighbourhood, north‑east of central Johannesburg. The victim was identified by a friend who had been with her at a bar the previous evening.
Gauteng Police Commissioner Tommy Mthombeni said the force could not rule out the possibility of a serial killer, citing similarities across the ten deaths in Ekurhuleni and an additional case in Soweto. He added that the victims share a "similar victimology" and a "modus operandi" that could help determine whether the latest death is linked to the others.
The killings have sparked a national outcry over the high levels of gender‑based violence in South Africa, which has one of the world’s highest rates of such violence. The South African Human Rights Commission reported that 569 women were killed and 1,052 others survived attempted murder between April and June this year.
Police investigators are at the scene collecting evidence, but officials have not yet publicly identified the latest victim. A friend of the deceased told the national broadcaster SABC, "I don't know what I'm going to say to her children," before wiping away tears.
Three men were recently charged in connection with one of the nine earlier murders, and police are working to locate others who may have been involved.
South Africa recorded 5,427 homicides between April and June alone, and the pattern of killings around Johannesburg has left many women alarmed by the growing death toll.
