Warning: This editorial discusses murder, gender-based violence and femicide. It does not include graphic details.

The nine Ekurhuleni deaths are a warning about a country asking women to shrink their lives

There is a familiar response whenever women are threatened: “change your route, stop running, do not walk alone, share your location, check the back seat, hold your keys between your fingers, stay on the phone, get home before dark, do not trust strangers, do not trust acquaintances, do not open the door.” The list never ends. And still, women are killed.

The deaths of nine women whose bodies were found in and around Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, have again placed women’s safety at the centre of national attention. Police are investigating possible links between the cases and have issued a public warning. But the public conversation cannot end with another list of restrictions placed on women.

Women should not have to stay indoors instead of living. They should not have to abandon exercise, friendships, work, study, travel or ordinary freedom in order to reduce the risk created by violent men and failing systems. Most painfully, reports that the eighth woman was found dead inside her apartment underline the limits of the advice women are so often given. Home is supposed to be a place of safety. If a woman can be killed there too, then the answer cannot be to keep telling women to make their worlds smaller.

What is known about the Ekurhuleni investigation?

Nine women have been found in several locations across Ekurhuleni over approximately two months. Public reporting has referred to cases in areas including Kempton Park, Tembisa, Olifantsfontein, Kwa-Thema and recently, Dawn Park, Boksburg.

Police have said that similarities between some of the deaths are concerning enough to justify a public warning and intensified investigations however they aren’t confirming these cases as serial killer murders. A multidisciplinary team has been established to examine possible links, identify those responsible and build the cases. Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia has described the discoveries as deeply disturbing, and yet, no word from President Cyril Ramaphosa

The cases remain under investigation. SAPS has not confirmed that a serial killer is responsible, and it has not established that all nine deaths were committed by one person or group. That distinction must remain clear. Women deserve urgent action and truthful reporting – not speculation presented as fact.

The circumstances surrounding the ninth death, including reports that the woman was found half-naked, and wrapped in a sheet on the side of the road on the morning of 17 September is yet to be confirmed. What is already clear is the scale of the fear and grief confronting communities across Ekurhuleni.

Women are not the problem to be managed

When violence against women occurs, the first public response is often to advise women to behave differently. Do not jog alone. Do not use quiet roads. Do not go out at night. Do not live alone. Do not drink. Do not trust too easily.

These measures may sometimes help a person respond to a specific risk, but they are not a solution to gender-based violence. They can become a burden that follows women everywhere – an invisible second job of constantly calculating danger.

A woman should not need a security strategy to buy groceries. She should not need permission, surveillance or a companion to take a walk. She should not have to choose between physical health and personal safety. She should not be required to disappear from public life because men who use violence are not being stopped.

And when a woman is attacked at home, the idea that safety can be achieved through perfect personal caution is exposed for what it is: inadequate and unfair.

The responsibility belongs to perpetrators, institutions and society. It belongs to the police service that must investigate. It belongs to the justice system that must prosecute. It belongs to municipalities that must maintain lighting and public spaces. It belongs to transport authorities, employers, schools, landlords, neighbours and all of us who can challenge the normalisation of violence.

It does not belong to victims.

A crisis larger than one investigation

The Ekurhuleni deaths are part of South Africa’s wider crisis of gender-based violence and femicide. Women are unsafe in public spaces, in relationships, at work, on public transport and in their own homes. The danger is not created by women’s clothing, routines, independence or lack of caution. It is created by people who choose violence and by systems that too often fail to prevent it or respond quickly enough.

Women For Change, a South African civil-society organisation working to end gender-based violence and femicide, puts survivor support, practical guidance and institutional accountability at the centre of its work. Its resources include guides for survivors, families and friends, information about reporting and protection orders, legal guidance and explanations of GBV-related terms.

That survivor-centred approach matters. Support should not begin with suspicion, blame or the question, “Why did she not leave?” It should begin with belief, safety, dignity and practical help.

Women For Change’s advocacy also points to a broader truth: emergency support is essential, but it is not enough. South Africa needs prevention, accountability, reliable services and public spaces designed around people’s safety – not only statements of concern after another woman has died.

Offer safety advice without blaming women

People living in or travelling through affected areas may choose to take additional precautions while the investigation continues. That choice should be respected. But safety advice must be framed correctly: it is a temporary tool, not a woman’s responsibility for preventing someone else’s crime.

If you are leaving home, exercising or travelling:

– Tell someone you trust where you are going and when you expect to return.

– Keep your phone charged and make sure you can contact emergency services.

– Choose populated, well-lit routes where possible.

– Consider traveling or exercising with someone if that makes you feel safer.

– If you believe you are being followed, move towards a busy, staffed place rather than confronting the person. Contact help when you reach safety.

If someone goes missing, report it to SAPS immediately. There is no requirement to wait 24 hours. Provide a recent photograph, clothing description, last known location, phone information and likely routes. Share public appeals responsibly and do not publish unverified allegations, private information or graphic material.

These steps may help in a particular situation. They do not transfer responsibility from the offender to the woman who is trying to live her life.

What real safety would look like

Real safety is more than telling women to stay home. It means:

– Well-lit streets and safe pedestrian routes.

– Reliable, safe and accessible public transport.

– Visible and responsive policing.

– Proper investigation of missing-person reports.

– Free Survivor-centred healthcare and counselling.

– Protection orders that are understood, accessible and enforced.

– Safe workplaces, schools and homes.

– Justice systems that hold perpetrators accountable.

– Community leaders who challenge misogyny rather than excuse it.

– A president who is as quick and responsive to Femicide as he is to pulling financial muscles for other issues and officials who act before the next body is found.

The Commission for Gender Equality has called for safety audits involving police, municipalities, transport authorities and community safety structures. Those audits should identify dangerous routes, poor lighting, neglected spaces, weak surveillance and gaps in emergency access. Women should not have to be killed before an area receives attention.

How we speak about the women who were killed

The women at the centre of this investigation should not be reduced to body counts, crime-scene images or speculation about a serial killer. They were daughters, mothers, sisters, friends, colleagues and neighbours. They were people with ordinary lives that should have continued. Their families deserve privacy, truth and justice. Survivors deserve support without blame. Communities deserve accurate information and protection. And women deserve more than advice that asks them to live less.

We should be able to say this plainly: women have the right to move through the world, to work, exercise, socialise, travel and rest without being treated as responsible for the violence that may happen to them. Staying indoors may be a choice someone makes when they feel afraid. It must never become the price of being a woman in South Africa. The demand now is not for women to disappear. It is for perpetrators to be stopped, cases to be investigated, institutions to be held accountable and public spaces to be made safe enough for women to live normally.

Press Icons stands with women and with every survivor, family and community affected by gender-based violence and femicide. We support reporting that is accurate, humane and free from victim-blaming. We reject the idea that women must surrender their freedom to compensate for a society that has not done enough to protect them. The eight Ekurhuleni deaths must be investigated thoroughly. But justice cannot end with arrests. It must also mean building a country where women do not have to choose between living freely and staying alive.

This editorial was prepared using sources checked on 16 September 2026: It is an editorial article about an active investigation. Facts may change as authorities release further information. Readers should verify new claims before sharing them.