Kempton Park murders: Here is the latest from police
· Citizen
Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant-General Tommy Mthombeni has provided the latest update on the police investigations into the discovery of women’s bodies in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni.
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Kempton Park remains a subject of discussion as residents express fear, anger and dissatisfaction amid the discovery of women’s bodies and accusations of police not doing enough to address issues.
On Saturday, 12 September, the South African Police Service (Saps) warned women in and around Kempton Park, particularly the Rhodesfield area, to exercise extreme caution following the discovery of several women’s bodies in the same area over a period of approximately two months.
Last month, the Gauteng provincial legislature’s portfolio committee on community safety revealed that Kempton Park recorded the highest number of kidnapping cases in Gauteng between April and June 2026.
According to the latest crime statistics, Kempton Park recorded 76 kidnapping cases between April and June 2026, compared with 48 during the same period in 2025, an increase of 58.3%. This makes Kempton Park the highest recording precinct in Gauteng for kidnapping during the quarter.
Gauteng recorded 2 367 kidnapping cases between April and June 2026. This is more than half of the 4 638 cases recorded nationally during the quarter.
Where the women’s bodies were found
Kempton Park murder investigations
Providing an update on the investigations on Friday, Mthombeni said three of the cases linked to the deaths of the 12 women had been resolved.
“We know currently there are two people who are going to court. For the July murder, we are having one person who is in custody as well. The murder suspect is going to appear this month. We had the third case, which we resolved as the team worked tirelessly, and within a short space of time we managed to arrest that suspect in Tzaneen,” said Mthombeni.
“Maybe added to that, one can indicate that we have a case where the victim was shot in the early hours of the morning. That case has also been resolved. In which sense, because the person who is suspected of having committed suicide, and that this particular individual was in a romantic relationship with the victim.
“One has to indicate that, out of these 11 cases, we have three cases on the main, the cases in Kempton Park, where we have identified the persons of interest, and we are pursuing the case so that we can be in a position to inform the public. One has also to indicate that out of the 12 bodies which were recovered, we are having three of the bodies of which is not yet identified.”
Police have offered a R400 000 reward for information concerning these cases.
“In that context, we are encouraging the community to come forward because most of these cases we resolve through the help of the community.”
Lesufi on Ramaphosa’s directives
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi also provided an update on how the province will implement the directives given by President Cyril Ramaphosa in a media briefing on Thursday.
Lesufi identified several areas where the provincial government needs support to tackle gender-based violence and femicide.
“You will recall the four immediate national directives are as follows. One, case recovery, which is an audit of unresolved murder, attempted murder, rape and serious sexual offences involving women and children.
“The second directive from the president was the forensic backlogs, which is to prepare a funded plan identifying black backlog size, age, staff and equipment shortages and the agent needs to provide additional resources so that we can reduce this backlog.
“Third, municipalities must start audits immediately with provincial governments and police so that we can identify broken lights, overgrown grass, abandoned buildings, unsafe transport routes and facilities, insecure parks and other risks and that we must publish our findings in the next 60 days.
“The fourth directive was alcohol-related violence: strengthen provincial and municipal legal enforcement against unlicensed outlets and trading.”
Missing persons
The province will also strengthen its tracking of missing people, while challenging the misconception that people need to wait hours before reporting and tracking cases.
It will also provide support for loved ones of individuals identified as missing or unaccounted for.
“We have agreed we are going to meet every Wednesday to take stock of the directives that the president has given us. But we are proud that we are not starting from day zero, that we are not starting from nowhere, that there has been work that has been done, and we’ve taken stock of that particular work.
“What we are doing now is the following. All municipalities today agreed to provide an audit in the next seven days on the following areas that have been identified.
“We’ve already developed what you call a geolocated unsafe spaces register and a station-level follow-up list drawn from two years of citizen voice on lighting, derelict buildings and unsafe public facilities. We’ve revisited all the concerns of service delivery delays that our people have been raising on.”
Protection orders
Lesufi further said the province would improve its enforcement of protection orders.
“Protection orders must be enforced and [women will] not be sent from one office to another. Lastly, the docket was secured, and survivors were treated with dignity, providing the necessary support mechanism that I needed at that level.
“In dealing with this work, we then went to take stock of all the protection orders that are currently in the system, analyse them and repackage them. So, 43 courts across all five regions are currently dealing with 3 462 protection orders that we are monitoring on a 24-hour basis to execute the mandate that the president has given us.
The province will also provide support to 10 police stations with the highest number of reported rape cases. These include Ivory Park, Mamelodi East, Kagiso, Thembisa and Atteridgeville.
“We are of the view that if we can put additional resources in terms of policing, victim empowerment and all related issues that we’ve raised here, including dockets in these 10 police stations, we would have failed the call that the president has given us because it starts here and that’s why we have to reinforce these 10 police stations and ensure that we provide the relevant support that is needed.”