South Africa 'feels like a prison' for women amid spate of femicides

Members of a women's church group sing next to a melted candle as they pay their respects at the site where the body of a woman was discovered the previous week, in Kempton Park, South Africa, east of Johannesburg, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. Themba Hadebe/AP hide caption

JOHANNESBURG — Elizabeth Moselakgomo, a 38-year-old manager, mother, and keen runner, went out for her usual afternoon jog in her neighborhood near the Johannesburg airport last week and never returned.

When she failed to come home, her 8-year-old daughter called relatives, who contacted the police. Five days later Moselakgomo's half-naked body was found in the area, with her face so badly beaten it was unrecognisable.

Moselakgomo is one of nine women who police say have been found slain, most of them in a period of a few weeks, in the same area of South Africa's biggest city. The majority of them were sexually assaulted.

Even in a country notorious for some of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world – with over 100 rape cases reported and some 15 women killed daily, according to police statistics -- the latest spate of murders has left South Africans shocked, angry and afraid.

Police haven't ruled out a serial killer and have warned women to be "vigilant" and not to walk or run alone. The approach is drawing backlash from women on social media who said the onus should be on the police to protect them, not for them to have to curtail their movements.

Forensic investigators work at the site where the body of a woman was discovered on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. Themba Hadebe/AP hide caption

President Cyril Ramaphosa has promised "no stone will be left unturned" in the hunt for the perpetrator or perpetrators. But many South Africans say the government – which declared gender-based violence and femicide a national disaster in 2025 -- has not done enough to keep women and girls safe.