Three suspects are due to appear in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday 21 September following the murder of a woman whose mutilated body was discovered in Dawn Park, Ekurhuleni, last week.
The body was found by a passer-by in an open area on Lama Street in Villa Lisa on September 17.
Police said the woman, who is believed to have been about 30 years old, was partially clothed and had sustained a fatal injury to her throat.
National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the Gauteng Murder and Robbery Unit arrested a man and two women over the weekend in connection with the killing.
The woman’s death is the ninth murder being investigated by police following the discovery of nine women’s bodies in parts of Ekurhuleni and Kempton Park over a period of about two months.
Acting National Commissioner of the South African Police Service Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane said investigators had been directed to prioritise all nine cases.
Dimpane said police were pursuing every available lead as they worked to identify those responsible for the killings.
“We remain committed to ensuring that these investigations are pursued with the urgency and determination they require.
“Our investigators are following all available leads and are working tirelessly to bring those responsible to justice,” he said.
Police said more information about the latest case would be placed before the court during the suspects’ appearance.
The arrests followed the questioning of three suspects after the discovery of the nine bodies in the Kempton Park and Ekurhuleni areas.
Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia revealed the development during a media briefing on Sunday after a meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Committee.
Cachalia said Crime Intelligence head Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo and KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi had been brought in to assist with the investigations.
He said police had also increased their presence in areas including KwaThema, Nigel and Dawn Park following the decision to place parts of Ekurhuleni under lockdown.
“The community in Ekurhuleni needs to understand that their safety is our priority, and that we are deploying these resources to assure the community that their safety is a priority, as well as our commitment to bringing the perpetrators of these heinous crimes to book,” Cachalia said.
The nine cases
The first victim was discovered in a field in Kempton Park on July 15.
The 37-year-old woman was found naked, with her hands tied with cable ties.
Police arrested a suspect two days after her body was discovered.
Her identity and the cause of her death have not been made public.
On July 17, 32-year-old Itumeleng Kekana was reported missing in Kempton Park.
Her relatives searched hospitals, police stations and mortuaries before her body was eventually discovered on August 3 along Great North Road in Pomona.
Kekana was survived by her parents and her 14-year-old daughter.
A 32-year-old woman was found partially clothed near the R21 on August 24.
Authorities have not publicly released her identity or the cause of her death.
On September 7, police discovered the body of a woman believed to have been in her late 20s in a river in Clayville, close to the Mall of Tembisa.
She was found wearing only her underwear.
Three days later, on September 10, another woman’s body was discovered near the R21 in Kempton Park.
Her relatives subsequently identified her as 28-year-old Gracious Nkomo.
Police said Nkomo was found partially clothed.
Around the same period, 38-year-old Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo was found dead behind a hotel in Rhodesfield after she had gone out for her regular run.
Her family later confirmed her identity, and she was buried in Mpumalanga over the weekend.
On September 14, a semi-naked woman was found in Olifantsfontein with visible bruising on her body.
Her identity has not been publicly disclosed.
The following day, police found the body of 38-year-old Dineo Evelyn Motapane beside a road in KwaThema, Springs.
Preliminary post-mortem findings indicated that Motapane had been strangled.
Her family identified her at Springs Mortuary.
The ninth victim was found on September 17 when a passer-by discovered the body of a woman in an open area on Lama Street in Dawn Park.
