Police on Thursday confirmed a ninth woman’s body was found in Dawn Park, Ekurhuleni, as investigators probe the nationality of a man arrested in connection with a July murder. Deputy National Police Commissioner Lt-Gen Tebello Mosikili said authorities are working with Home Affairs and state security to verify the suspect’s background.
The grim discovery of a partially naked woman wrapped in a sheet on the side of a road in Boksburg’s Dawn Park neighbourhood has deepened public anxiety across Johannesburg’s East Rand.
Investigating the Suspect and Foreign Nationality Claims
Law enforcement officials have placed one man in custody in connection with a July murder, though his exact background remains unverified. Investigators are actively obtaining the individual’s fingerprints from police and correctional services records to trace his identity. Police are also probing a person of interest possibly linked to the killings. Only one man, whose nationality has not yet been established, is in custody.
“We cannot say, yes, he’s a non-South African, but we have been informed that he’s a non-South African. But from which country? That is what we are going to establish later today,”
Lt-Gen Tebello Mosikili, deputy national police commissioner
Deputy National Police Commissioner Mosikili noted that she had been in contact with the director-general of the Department of Home Affairs since Wednesday night and had also engaged state security officials as investigators sought more information. Police are actively examining whether this suspect could be connected to any of the other ongoing homicide investigations in the area. Authorities have not yet established if all the recent killings of women in Ekurhuleni are linked.
A Growing Task Team and Emerging Links Between Cases
For the first time on record, police have confirmed that some of the murders may be linked. Officers have established a dedicated team to investigate the deaths of the women across the East Rand since July. The grim discoveries have fuelled fear and uncertainty across Johannesburg’s East Rand, with police placing the City of Ekurhuleni on lockdown, meaning additional resources will be sent to the metro along with increased police visibility and more boots on the ground.
With five of the nine victims still unidentified, police added that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has now been roped in to access biometric information, including fingerprint records, as they work to identify victims and develop possible leads. Mosikili said that intelligence gathered by officers on the ground was directing police deployments across the affected areas. We have Operation Shanela every week that is being undertaken. With intelligence operatives on the ground, they should be in a position to migrate operations. Remember, we are saying now we have three different areas,
she said.
Social Media Warnings and Public Fear
As anxiety spreads through local communities, police have issued a warning against the circulation of AI-generated images, falsely depicting more murder victims in Ekurhuleni. Posting images of a deceased person at a crime scene on social media is considered a crime under the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Criminal Procedure Act, carrying a jail term of between three and five years or a fine of R500,000. Police caution that under the current climate in and around Ekurhuleni, falsified images and videos risk delaying and affecting investigations in the pursuit of justice.
“This thing of using social media, causing fear to the people and now making everyone to be on edge, using this type of serious and more concerning type of crime incidents, doesn’t help us,”
Acting Gauteng Provincial Police Commissioner Fred Kekana
Around-the-Clock Operations and Community Anxiety
Residents across the East Rand remain troubled after the discovery of the ninth woman. Mosikili said the apparent absence of uniformed officers in some areas did not mean police were not working the cases. The intelligence operatives have not slept. I’m told the other team had to drive from one block to another. So when you don’t see us, it’s because of the direction and areas the intelligence operatives guide us to,
she said.
Police leadership has vowed that investigators would continue working around the clock, with Mosikili stating, My colleagues will not sleep for as long as there is work to be done,
reiterating the commitment given to the nation when the minister made declarations earlier in the week.