‘Remain Vigilant’ — Black South African Women Speak Out Against Femicide After 9 Women Are Found Dead [Op-Ed]

September 24, 2026

Police Hunt Potential Serial Killer After Nine Women Murdered — Women demonstrate during a march against gender-based violence (GBV) on September 19, 2026, in Kempton Park, South Africa. South African police are investigating the potential presence of a serial killer after the bodies of nine women were discovered over two months in the east of Johannesburg. The victims, aged between 20 and 38, were found dead under highly similar and disturbing circumstances, prompting widespread panic and renewed national outrage regarding the country’s severe crisis of gender-based violence. (Photo by Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images)

The nine women whose bodies have been found in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, since July, were mostly Black South African women from working-class townships—Kempton Park, KwaThema, Dawn Park—communities that have long absorbed the brunt of the country’s gender-based violence epidemic.

According to the Washington Post, most of the victims were in their 20s and 30s, and several were found partially unclothed and bearing bruises; eight of the nine were sexually assaulted. Police have not ruled out the possibility of a serial killer. Yet, Black women are refusing to be defined only as victims. They are organizing, writing, marching, and reframing what an actual solution looks like.

Police near Kempton Park have urged women to avoid walking or running alone and to “remain vigilant.” The Guardian ran a first-person essay by Black South African writer Nolethu Ndude directly challenging that advice.

Written by: weboss2022

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