The confirmed deaths of nine women whose bodies have been found around Ekurhuleni since July have left South Africa confronting another grim chapter in its long history of violence against women.
While investigators are examining possible links between the cases, SAPS has not confirmed that the nine deaths were the work of a single perpetrator.
The discovery revived difficult conversations about violence against women in the country and South Africa’s long, grim relationship with true crime.
True crime has become a significant part of South Africa’s media landscape, from high-profile murders that have dominated headlines to documentaries and podcasts that revisit some of the country’s most notorious cases.
For the families of the nine women, however, these are not stories from the past to be revisited. The investigations are still under way, questions remain unanswered and lives have been permanently changed.
Impact of Ekurhuleni deaths
The repeated discoveries of women's bodies around Ekurhuleni have had a profound impact on women and communities.
Siyabulela Monakali, a spokesperson for Ilitha Labantu, an organisation working to address violence against women and children, says it has "understandably generated fear, anxiety and distress among women and communities, particularly in a country where violence against women has remained a persistent reality for decades".
Monakali said the repeated reporting of violence against women can have a psychological impact beyond the individual cases.
Only four of the nine women have been formally identified. They are Itumeleng Kekana, 32, Moselakgomo, 38, Dineo Evelyn Motapane, 38 and Gracious Nkomo, 28.
Monakali said the repeated reporting of violence against women can have a psychological impact beyond the individual cases.
“Women are repeatedly confronted with reports of women being murdered, raped, assaulted, abducted or going missing, often accompanied by extensive discussion across television, radio and social media.”
South Africa has a long history of horrific crimes that have remained in the public memory. Many of the country’s most notorious cases have since been revisited through documentaries and podcasts, becoming part of its true-crime culture.
Devilsdorp
The modern wave of South African true crime on streaming can be traced to “Devilsdorp”, Showmax’s first original true-crime documentary series, which premiered in July 2021.
The four-part series examined the Krugersdorp killings between 2012 and 2016, when 11 people were murdered in cases eventually linked to the Electus per Deus group.
The investigation drew attention to a string of deaths that had initially appeared to be separate cases before police established connections between them.
Strangers You Know
The same year, M-Net brought another dimension of South Africa’s murder record into focus with "Strangers You Know".
The series examined cases including Palesa Madiba, who was murdered and buried in a shallow grave in Soweto; Gill Packham, whose burnt remains were found in the boot of her car; Anene Booysen, who was murdered in Bredasdorp; and Jayde Panayiotou, whose body was found in a field outside Gqeberha.
It also covered Karabo Mokoena, who was murdered by her boyfriend Sandile Mantsoe in Johannesburg, and Baby Jenna May, who was shot during an alleged hijacking.
The Last Blue Ride: The Hannah Cornelius Story
In 2017, 21-year-old Stellenbosch student Hannah Cornelius and her friend Cheslin Marsh were abducted near Stellenbosch.
The pair were attacked during an 11-hour ordeal. Marsh survived after being assaulted and left for dead, while Cornelius was raped, stabbed and killed. Her body was found near Kraaifontein.
Four men were later convicted in connection with the attack. The case drew attention to the brutality of the crime, the vulnerability of young women and the impact on Cornelius’ family and Marsh, who survived with permanent injuries.
Stella Murders
In March 2023, "Stella Murders" examined the deaths of teenagers Sharnelle Hough, 17, and Marna Engelbrecht, 16, at Stella High School in North West.
The two friends were found dead at their school hostel on May 26, 2018. Their deaths initially appeared to be suicides, but the investigation later led police to treat the case as murder. Hough’s former boyfriend, Xander Bylsma, was eventually convicted of both murders and sentenced to two life terms.
The documentary was not only about the investigation. It also examined the grief left behind for the families and the small community of Stella.
That is important, because it connects the horror of crime with what happens after a family loses a loved one in a buital way. “The psychological impact of this continued exposure to violence must not be underestimated," Monakali added.
Boetie Boer: Inside the Mind of a Monster
"Boetie Boer" turned to the crimes of Gqeberha fisherman Stewart Wilken, who was arrested in 1997 after the disappearance of 10-year-old Henry Bakkers.
While in police custody, Wilken confessed to murdering Bakkers and nine other people. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The Showmax documentary examined his seven-year period of offending and used original audio from a 2006 interview with criminal psychologist Dr Gérard Labuschagne.
The Station Strangler
Then South Africa returned to a case even further back and one of the most spoken about throughout the years within the Western Cape.
"The Station Strangler" premiered on Showmax in November 2024 and investigated the serial killer believed to have murdered 21 young boys and one adult on the Cape Flats from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s.
Norman Simons, a schoolteacher, was arrested and convicted of the murder of 10-year-old Elroy van Rooyen, but not the other suspected killings. After 28 years in prison, Simons was released on parole. The documentary brought victims’ families, investigators and serial-killer profiler Micki Pistorius back into the story.
Tracking Thabo Bester
By 2024, the documentary was no longer necessarily looking decades into the past.
"Tracking Thabo Bester" premiered on Showmax on 15 March 2024, while the Bester story was still unfolding in the courts and dominating South African headlines.
Bester, a convicted murderer and rapist, had faked his death in prison and escaped, triggering a national investigation involving his partner, Dr Nandipha Magudumana. Showmax reported that the documentary became its most-watched documentary on its first day.
The speed with which the story moved from breaking news to documentary was significant. The crime was still part of the national conversation when audiences were being invited to watch a detailed reconstruction of it.
Rosemary's Hitlist
Later that year came "Rosemary's Hitlist", centred on former police officer Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu.
Ndlovu was sentenced in 2021 to six concurrent life terms for murdering six people, including her sister, two nephews, a niece, a cousin and her former partner, Yingwani Mabasa. Mabasa disappeared in October 2015 and his body was found three days later in Olifantsfontein.
Investigators found that Ndlovu had taken out life insurance policies on several of her victims and stood to receive more than R1.4 million from the policies. Her case became one of South Africa's most closely followed murder trials, particularly because the victims included members of her own family.
The ABC Killer
Then the documentary lens went back to the 1990s.
"The ABC Killer" revisited the case of Moses Sithole, who was convicted of 38 murders and whose victims were predominantly young Black women in Atteridgeville, Boksburg and Cleveland.
The killings took place during the first years of South Africa's democracy. Thirty years later, the Showmax documentary returned to the case through interviews with journalist Tamsen de Beer, who received a call from Sithole during her time at The Star, as well as profiler Micki Pistorius and other contributors.
Living in fear
South Africa is praised for its landscapes, wildlife, people and culture, yet murder remains part of everyday news. For women living with the reality of violence, the crimes that dominate headlines and later become the subject of documentaries are not distant stories. They form part of the wider landscape of fear and vigilance.
"The continued prevalence of violence has created an environment in which fear and vigilance have become normalised aspects of everyday life for many women, particularly those living in communities where violence and insecurity are already prevalent," says Monakali.
“The recent developments in Ekurhuleni have brought this reality into sharp focus. When women repeatedly hear about other women going missing, being assaulted or being killed, it reinforces the perception that violence can happen to anyone and at any time,” Monakali said.
“The continued exposure to these reports through television, newspapers, radio, social media and conversations within families and communities further compounds the sense of insecurity, bringing the reality of violence into people's homes and making it increasingly difficult to separate everyday life from the threat of violence.
“The psychological impact of this continued exposure to violence must not be underestimated.
"Women are repeatedly confronted with reports of women being murdered, raped, assaulted, abducted or going missing, often accompanied by extensive discussion across television, radio and social media.
"Over time, this constant exposure can contribute to heightened anxiety, fear, distress and a persistent sense of vulnerability, particularly when incidents occur in places that women know or frequent themselves,” Monakali said.
For the families of the nine women found in and around Ekurhuleni, these are not completed crime stories. The investigations are still under way, questions remain unanswered and the lives behind the headlines have been permanently changed.
And that is perhaps the uncomfortable contradiction at the heart of true crime: audiences can close the episode and move on. For the people whose lives are inside the story, there is no final episode.
bernelee.vollmer@nationalmg.co.za