The timing could hardly be starker.
As an eighth woman was found dead in Ekurhuleni, government officials and civil society representatives were gathering in Benoni, Ekurhuleni for a national indaba on South Africa’s response to gender-based violence and femicide.
The three-day indaba, which began on Tuesday as police announced that more women had been added to the list of those killed in the area - and runs until September 17, is focused on strengthening the coordination of GBVF interventions, improving prevention and ensuring better support for survivors. Its theme “The Social Integration of GBVF Interventions”.
GBVF was formally classified as a national disaster in November 2025. Nine months later, the sixth National Shelter Indaba is asking how the response can be strengthened as police investigate the deaths of eight women in the same municipality since July.
The juxtaposition raises a harder question: what has the national-disaster designation actually changed on the ground?
There is a government answer.
Reflecting on developments since the classification, Sibusiso Malope, director responsible for the Victim Empowerment Programme at the National Department of Social Development, said the disaster declaration had led to the establishment of NATJOINT, bringing together departments including Social Development, Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Justice, SAPS and The Presidency.
Malope said NATJOINT had established workstreams covering prevention and social cohesion, enforcement, care and support, the legal and regulatory framework, statistics and systems, accountability, funding and costing, communication and partnerships, and monitoring.
The purpose, he said, was to assess whether commitments were being actioned.
But whether those structures have translated into measurable changes for women and survivors remains a central question.
Police have offered a R400,000 reward for information and announced an expanded policing operation in Kempton Park and surrounding areas. They have also vowed to lockdown the area in their attempt to track those responsible. The eight deaths have not been linked and police have cautioned against speculation that a serial killer is responsible.
The National Shelter Movement of South Africa has warned that the response to GBVF remains too slow and says about 90% of the country’s roughly 100 shelters are struggling with funding and support.
At the same time, the latest SAPS figures recorded 569 women murdered and 9,201 rapes between April and June 2026.
The government has taken steps since the disaster classification, including expanding shelter services in GBVF hotspots. The Department of Social Development says six of the country’s 52 districts still have no shelters.
Meanwhile the Department said it is deeply concerned by the continued discovery of women’s bodies in the area.
Among the deceased is 38-year-old Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo, who was reportedly last seen on 10 September 2026 after leaving her Kempton Park home for an afternoon run. Her body was subsequently identified by her family.
"DSD stands in solidarity with all the affected families during this profoundly painful period and calls for the investigations into these deaths to be prioritised so that the circumstances surrounding each case can be established and those responsible brought to justice.
"The Department, working through the relevant provincial and local social development structures, stands ready to facilitate psychosocial support, trauma counselling and other appropriate social services to assist the child and affected family during this extremely difficult period."
Minister of Social Development, Ms Dina Pule, conveyed her heartfelt condolences to all the families affected by the recent deaths of women in Ekurhuleni.
“The loss of any woman under such tragic circumstances is deeply distressing. Our hearts go out to every family that has been left grieving, and especially to the children who have lost their mothers and now have to live with the pain and trauma of that loss. No child should have to endure the heartbreak of losing a parent in this manner.
"As a society, we must surround these families and children with compassion, care and the psychosocial support they need during this extremely difficult time. Their grief must not be carried alone.
"We must also recommit ourselves to building communities in which women and children are safe, protected and able to live without fear,” said Pule.
Pule said the continued violence experienced by women and children remains a serious societal challenge requiring urgent and collective action. “Women must be able to exercise, travel, work and participate in community life without fearing for their safety.”
After the deaths, SAPS urged women in and around Kempton Park to remain vigilant and exercise caution. The advice has prompted a backlash from rights organisations and the National Shelter Movement, which argue that women are already taking extensive precautions and that responsibility for preventing violence cannot be shifted onto potential victims.
Lawyers for Human Rights said women in South Africa are already “hypervigilant”, arguing that the state should instead be judged on whether it is delivering properly funded interventions, effective policing, accountability and justice.
But the deaths have sharpened the question at the heart of the indaba: what does a national-disaster response look like on the ground when women continue to be killed?
The measure of a national-disaster response is ultimately what changes for women on the ground — whether they are safer, whether survivors can access protection and whether the state can prevent violence and bring perpetrators to justice.
* Members of the public can report incidents of gender-based violence to the Gender-Based Violence Command Centre on 0800 428 428.
vivian.warby@nationalmg.co.za