By Levy Masiteng
Police have expanded their investigation into a string of women’s deaths across Ekurhuleni to include the body of a woman found in Clayville earlier this month, taking the number of cases under investigation to seven.
The woman, believed to have been in her late 20s, was discovered wearing only her underwear in a river near Tembisa Mall on 7 September.
Acting Gauteng Provincial Commissioner Major General Fred Kekana said a preliminary examination had found no visible injuries on the woman.
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Police announced the inclusion of the Clayville case on Tuesday, just hours after another woman’s body was found on the side of a road in KwaThema, Springs.
KwaThema is about 45km from Kempton Park, where four women’s bodies were found separately over the past two months.
A fifth woman’s body was discovered in Olifantsfontein on Monday, near the R21 and about five kilometres from Kempton Park.
Among the women whose bodies were found in the Kempton Park area was 38-year-old runner Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo, whose family positively identified her body at the Germiston mortuary on Monday after she disappeared while out running last week.
Police have not established that all seven deaths are connected and have cautioned against concluding that a serial killer is operating in the area.
But they have also said there were concerning similarities between several of the Kempton Park cases.
Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane ordered the establishment of a dedicated multidisciplinary task team after the first four Kempton Park cases emerged.
The team includes detectives from specialised units, including the Murder and Robbery Unit and Investigative Psychology Unit, and has been tasked with determining whether any of the cases are linked.
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One suspect has already been arrested in connection with the first woman’s body found in Kempton Park in July and remains in custody. Police have not said that the suspect is linked to any of the subsequent deaths.
Police have urged women in Ekurhuleni to exercise caution, particularly when walking or running alone in isolated areas.
