JOHANNESBURG - Women’s rights groups and East Rand residents are demanding urgent action from government as concern over women’s safety grows following the discovery of several women’s bodies in Ekurhuleni.
Police have urged women to be more vigilant, but activists say women are already doing everything they can to protect themselves and should not have to carry the responsibility for their own safety.
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Kwanele Foundation founder Sihle Sibisi says the latest developments are devastating and wants government to explain what more is being done to protect women.
“As a sister, as a mother, as a woman in South Africa, this is shattering. Our women in South Africa are not safe. We cannot be living daily in fear,” she says.
Sibisi says government needs to move beyond meetings and put more resources on the ground to address gender-based violence and femicide.
“One woman who loses her life is one too many. The question is no longer, ‘Who’s next?’ The question is, ‘When will it happen to me?’” she says.
The concerns are being echoed by women living in the affected communities.
Some say they no longer feel safe going about their daily lives.
“We woke up this morning with the sad news that there’s a decomposed body of a woman which was thrown here,” one resident says.
Another woman says the killings have left her afraid of what could happen to her and her children.
“I don’t feel safe at all. We’ve got kids that are also killed. I don’t feel safe because now you don’t know what will happen in the future,” she says.
Many women run early in the morning because they need to fit exercise around work and family responsibilities, but activists say women should not have to change their lives simply to avoid becoming victims of violence.
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Police have established a dedicated multidisciplinary task team to investigate the deaths of women in and around Kempton Park and determine whether there are links between the cases.
The investigation continues as communities demand greater police visibility and more decisive action to protect women.