17 September 2026
The African National Congress (ANC) Study Group on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities in the National Assembly expresses profound outrage and grief following the discovery of nine women’s bodies across Ekurhuleni Metro.
We extend our deepest condolences to the families and communities whose lives have been violently shattered. These women are not statistics on a police docket. They were mothers, daughters, sisters, and valued members of society whose lives were brutally stolen. While we acknowledge the ongoing intelligence-driven investigations by the South African Police Service and Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police, outrage after the fact is no longer acceptable.
The escalating crisis in our streets demands immediate prevention, unyielding accountability, and swift justice. We categorically reject any notion that women must carry the burden of their own safety. Women should not have to alter their routines, stop walking or running, or live smaller lives out of fear. The responsibility to build secure communities belongs to society as a whole, to government, law enforcement, municipalities, and above all, to men. Silence in the face of gender-based violence is active complicity.
Men must speak up, confront misogyny, challenge violent behaviour, and actively dismantle the cultures of abuse that destroy women’s lives. We demand an immediate shift from rhetoric to measurable action. Police agencies must deploy every forensic and intelligence resource to apprehend these killers, backed by permanent, high-density patrols in vulnerable communities rather than temporary visits after another body is found.
Municipalities must urgently repair dark roads, secure pedestrian pathways, and fix broken infrastructure that exposes women to danger. Furthermore, national commitments on gender-based violence and femicide must immediately translate into visible safety on the ground, supported by dedicated psychosocial care for grieving families.
We cannot continue to bury our women and call statements of sympathy progress. Every life lost must propel us from grief to action and from empty promises to uncompromising accountability. Parliament will continue exercising relentless oversight to ensure our communities become places where women live, work, and walk in absolute freedom. Enough is enough.
The time for action is now.
Issued by Cde TM Chauke-Adonis, Whip of Study Group on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (National Assembly)
For media enquiries, please contact:
Cde Hlengiwe Hadebe
Media Liaison Officer
+27 64 147 3276
