The fear arrived long before any verdict. In Ekurhuleni, where the bodies of 11 women have been found since July, residents say the uncertainty alone has changed how they move through their communities, altering routes, routines and the simple freedom to walk outside after dark. For the people living with that reality, the question of how these killings should be understood is not an abstract debate. It shapes whether the state responds with the urgency they believe their safety demands.
That debate has split opinion in the affected communities. Some argue that the number of women killed in a relatively short period places the deaths firmly within South Africa’s wider crisis of gender-based violence and femicide. Others insist that investigators must first establish who killed each woman and why, before the cases can collectively be described as femicide.
Additional reference context is available at https://mg.co.za/2026-10-01-murder-first-or-femicide-ekurhuleni-killings-open-debate-over-how-cases-should-be-understood/.
Katlego Nhlapo, a Kwa-Thema resident who has followed the developments closely, belongs to the second camp. He believes the cases should initially be treated as individual murders while investigators work to establish the identity of the perpetrators and their motives. “I’m not ruling out that these are femicide cases. It is better to investigate them as crimes against life first because that is what they first are, before they become femicide cases,” Nhlapo said.
His reasoning rests on what the evidence does and does not yet show. Investigators do not know whether the killings were committed by one person, by several people, or by perpetrators acting for entirely different reasons. Nhlapo also cautions against assuming the perpetrator is male simply because all the known victims are women. “We don’t know why they’re happening. Motive is what determines whether these cases are femicide cases or simply crimes against life,” he said.
For him, the stakes of getting this right extend to the public’s understanding of the cases themselves. Prematurely framing them as a single gender-based crime could shape how the public interprets events before investigators have established the facts. The priority, in his view, should remain finding those responsible, understanding why the women were killed and giving their families answers. “If they are treated separately, we might find that there might probably be multiple killers, multiple perpetrators,” he said.
Meanwhile, the recent arrest of two women in connection with the murder of Jabulile Ntimba has added weight to that argument. Fortunate Masilela, 31, and Tsakane Nester Msithini, 38, face charges in connection with Ntimba’s murder and the alleged defeating or obstruction of the ends of justice. A male suspect arrested alongside them was later released without charge. The case establishes no link to the other killings, but it has challenged assumptions about who may be responsible and illustrates why investigators are being urged to follow the evidence in each case rather than work from assumptions about a possible perpetrator.
The state, under growing pressure to show it is responding with urgency, has elevated the investigation to a national level, a step confirmed by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Detectives, Crime Intelligence, forensic specialists, investigative psychologists, digital investigators and other specialised capabilities are involved. Investigators are examining DNA, blood samples, clothing, cellphone devices and cellphone records, while the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research is assisting with digital forensic work. Police have made arrests in some of the cases, though they continue to stress that the bodies being found in the same broader area does not by itself prove the killings are connected.
For women in Ekurhuleni, however, waiting for investigators to settle the question of linkage is not an option. Sabrina Walter, founder of Women For Change, said women cannot simply wait before taking the threat seriously. “Women are already changing routes, sharing live locations, avoiding walking alone and avoiding going out after dark,” Walter said.
She welcomed the arrest of a suspect in the murder of Ntombifuthi Nxumalo but stressed that an arrest is only the beginning of the criminal justice process. Communities, she said, need investigations that lead to successful prosecutions and appropriate sentences, while authorities need to communicate more regularly with residents without compromising active investigations. In her view, the responsibility cannot continue to fall on women to make themselves safer while the systems meant to protect them struggle to respond.
Walter has called for visible policing around transport routes, stations and isolated areas, faster responses when women and children are reported missing, properly investigated GBV cases, functioning forensic systems and stronger cooperation between police and prosecutors. She also argued that women should not have to calculate the risk involved in ordinary activities such as travelling home, going for a run, using public transport or simply walking through their neighbourhoods.
By contrast, the disagreement over how the Ekurhuleni killings should be understood reflects a broader tension between the need to identify patterns and the need to avoid drawing conclusions before the evidence exists. For Nhlapo, the immediate priority is establishing who is responsible and what motivated the killings. For women living with the fear the deaths have created, the fact that 11 women have been found dead is already enough to change everyday life.
Who killed the women, why they were targeted and whether the deaths form part of a wider pattern are questions only the investigations can settle. Until then, the debate continues between those who see the killings within the country’s wider femicide crisis and those urging investigators to establish the facts of each murder before drawing broader conclusions.