Fourteen Women, Fourteen Stories: Who They Were and What We Know

Between July and September 2026, the bodies of women were found in several parts of Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, and in one case in nearby Soweto. They were found in fields, beside roads, in a river, in a dam and near a cemetery. Some women had been reported missing before they were found, and one had been missing for almost six months. Police have made arrests in some cases, and others remain under investigation.

Some of the cases share details, and this has led to questions about whether one person is responsible. Police have not established this. They say they are investigating each case separately while looking for possible links.

Our write up follows the same approach. It sets out each reported case in the order the women were found and includes only what has been publicly reported.

CASE 1

Busisiwe Mahlangu, 37

Busisiwe Mahlangu was found in Kempton Park on 15 July. Early reports said she was naked and that her hands were tied with cable ties. Police arrested a man believed to be her partner two days later, and he remains in custody. Police have not linked him to any of the later cases.

CASE 2

Itumeleng Kekana, 32

Itumeleng Kekana went missing in July. Her family searched for her, and her body was found on 3 August in bushes near Great North Road, close to the Max informal settlement in Pomona, Kempton Park. Police said she had multiple stab wounds. She was a mother and leaves a 14-year-old daughter.

CASE 3

Nomfesane Mjobo, age not reported

Nomfesane Mjobo was found in Kempton Park on 26 August. Little information about her death has been made public, and police are still investigating.

CASE 4

Unidentified woman, believed to be in her twenties

On 7 September, police found a woman’s body floating in a river in Clayville, Olifantsfontein. She was wearing only underwear. Her identity was not known, and police asked the public for information to help identify her and establish how she died.

CASE 5

Gracious Nkomo, 28

Gracious Nkomo was found near the R21 in Kempton Park on 10 September. She was partly clothed. She was initially among the unidentified women in the investigation, and her family later identified her at the Germiston mortuary.

CASE 6

Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo, 38

Elizabeth Moselakgomo left her home in Rhodesfield for her usual run and did not return. A search followed, and her body was found in the Kempton Park area on 12 September. Her family identified her, and she was buried in Mpumalanga.

CASE 7

Vutomi Mathebula, 28

Vutomi Mathebula worked as a cleaner and had a five-year-old child. She was last seen on 22 March, after she told her family she was going shopping at Dragon City. Her family reported her missing the next day. They later received calls from people who claimed to have abducted her and demanded ransom. The family reportedly paid R3,000, but she was not returned. Her decomposed remains were found in Olifantsfontein on 14 September. Her family identified her at a mortuary, and she was buried in Giyani, Limpopo, on 24 September.

CASE 8

Unidentified woman, age not reported

Another woman was found in Olifantsfontein on 14 September. Police withheld her name while they worked to notify her family. Reports said she was partly or fully undressed and had bruising.

CASE 9

Dineo Evelyn Motapane, 38

Dineo Evelyn Motapane was found beside a road in Kwa-Thema, Springs, on 15 September. Her family said they last saw her alive on the Sunday before. Preliminary pathology findings reportedly indicated that she had been strangled. Her family identified her at Springs Mortuary.

CASE 10

Jabulile Ntimba, believed to be in her thirties

Jabulile Ntimba was found dead in Dawn Park, Boksburg, on 17 September. She was partly clothed, and police later said she died from a throat injury. Two women, Fortunate Masilela and Tsakane Nester Msithini, were charged with murder and with defeating or obstructing the course of justice. A man arrested with them was released after police said there was not enough evidence to charge him, although he remains a person of interest. Police said the case appeared to involve a relationship and a possible love triangle, and they have not linked it to the other cases.

CASE 11

Unidentified woman, believed to be in her twenties

On 20 September, a woman’s body was found wrapped in a duvet in a dam in Moroka, Soweto, which is outside Ekurhuleni. She has not been identified. Police opened an inquest, and no evidence linking her death to the Ekurhuleni cases has been made public. She is included here because her body was found during the same period.

CASE 12

Ntombifuthi Nxumalo, age not reported

Ntombifuthi Nxumalo was found on 26 September near Mooifontein Cemetery in the Vusimusi section of Tembisa. She had serious head injuries, and stones were found near her body, so police are investigating whether she was stoned to death. Police count her as the tenth woman found in Ekurhuleni in this period. They arrested a 36-year-old man, Victor Matome Rampedi, after tracing him to Limpopo. He appeared in the Thembisa Magistrates’ Court on 29 September, and his bail hearing was postponed to 6 October. Nxumalo had five children.

CASE 13

Unidentified woman, age not reported

On 27 September, a patrolling security company vehicle found a woman’s body in an open field near Rhokana Road in Struisbult, Springs, and alerted police. Police and government statements counted her as the eleventh woman found in Ekurhuleni since July. She had not been identified in the initial reports.

CASE 14

Boitumelo Gift Mashita, 23

Boitumelo Gift Mashita was shot on the morning of 28 September while on her way to work in the Temong section of Tembisa. She worked as a chef in Centurion and had a five-year-old son. Police are investigating murder and robbery, as her belongings were reportedly taken. Her family believes someone known to her may be responsible and says the person they suspect had threatened her before. Police identified her estranged husband as a person of interest. He was found dead in his vehicle in Midrand the same day. Police said no foul play was suspected in his death and that a post-mortem would establish the cause. They also said preliminary investigations had not found a link between her killing and the earlier cases.

The reported cases differ in location, circumstances and cause of death. The women were found in different places. Some were stabbed, some strangled, one was shot, and others had head or throat injuries. In several cases the cause of death has not been confirmed. Some women were missing for days or months, while others appear to have been found soon after they were killed. Arrests have been made in the cases of Busisiwe Mahlangu, Jabulile Ntimba and Ntombifuthi Nxumalo. The other cases remain open.

The government has set up a multidisciplinary team of detectives, Crime Intelligence officers, forensic specialists, investigative psychologists and digital investigators. Police have collected DNA, blood samples, clothing, cellphone information and other evidence. In his address to the nation on 29 September, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the women whose names are known are only part of the total, as some have not yet been identified.

Identification allows families to know what happened to a missing daughter, mother, sister or friend, and to bury her by name.

Recording these cases together makes it easier to see patterns that separate reports can miss. It allows investigators, journalists, researchers and advocates to ask questions about prevention, the police response and accountability. The record also has limits. Not every killing of a woman is a legally established case of femicide, since the motive and circumstances of each death must be investigated. The discovery of several bodies in one area does not by itself show that the cases are connected. What the reports do establish is that a number of women have died in circumstances that have raised concern about violence against women in South Africa.

FAME Foundation Femicide Tracker will continue to document reported cases of gender-related killings and follow developments in these cases as information becomes available.

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For more updates, case documentation and developments on femicide and gender-related killings, follow the Femicide Tracker on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/femicidetracker/