Tenth woman's body found in Johannesburg suburb as police probe serial killings

September 26, 2026 at 11:30 PM3 min

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South African police found a woman's body in a Tembisa cemetery on Saturday, the tenth such discovery in Ekurhuleni since July. Gauteng Police Commissioner Tommy Mthombeni said investigators could not rule out a serial killer, citing similar victimology across the deaths. The killings have intensified a national outcry over gender-based violence in South Africa.

Key Facts

The body was found on Saturday morning at a cemetery in Tembisa, north-east of central Johannesburg, and identified by a friend who had been with her at a bar the previous evening.
Gauteng Police Commissioner Tommy Mthombeni said the 10 deaths in Ekurhuleni and another in Soweto share a 'similar victimology' indicating a shared modus operandi.
South Africa recorded 5,427 murders between April and June 2026, and the South African Human Rights Commission reported 569 women killed and 1,052 surviving attempted murder in the same period.
Three men appeared in court earlier this week accused of involvement in one of the nine murders, with police tracking down others possibly involved.

The Discovery

Police found the latest body on Saturday morning at a cemetery in Tembisa, a neighbourhood north-east of central Johannesburg. The victim was identified by a friend who had been with her at a bar the previous evening and recognised her clothes when shown a picture of the body. Crime scene investigators were gathering evidence at the site, and officials have yet to publicly identify the victim. The friend told national broadcaster SABC, 'I don't know what I'm going to say to her children,' while wiping away tears.

Serial Killer Investigation

Gauteng Police Commissioner Tommy Mthombeni said at this early stage it was too soon to say whether the woman's death was linked to the others. He told reporters that the other bodies shared a 'similar victimology' indicating a shared 'modus operandi' of killing, which would allow police to determine whether this latest death was linked. 'For now, it's not something which we can overrule to say there's a serial killer, but we cannot conclusively indicate as such,' Lt Gen Mthombeni said. The 10 other bodies have been found in similar circumstances since July, most of them in Kempton Park, one neighbourhood over from Tembisa. Many of the bodies were those of young women and almost all had suffered extreme violence prior to their deaths.

National Outcry

The deaths have sparked a national outcry about the scale of violence against women in South Africa, which has one of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world. South Africa recorded 5,427 murders between April and June this year alone, though police statistics do not differentiate victims by gender. The South African Human Rights Commission said last week that 569 women were killed and 1,052 others survived attempted murder between April and June this year. The deaths have placed pressure on the national government less than a year after ministers declared gender-based violence a national disaster. Three men appeared in court earlier this week accused of being involved in one of the nine murders, with police working to track down others who may have been involved.