South Africa’s national police leadership has intensified investigations into the deaths of women in and around Kempton Park after a fifth woman’s body was found in Olifantsfontein on Monday, 14 September 2026. The discovery extends a series of cases that has alarmed residents across Ekurhuleni, but police say forensic work—not public speculation—must establish whether the deaths are connected.
The fifth woman was found partially clothed beside a road in Clayville Extension 26, Olifantsfontein, according to police reporting carried by SABC, Eyewitness News and the local Kempton Express. She had not been publicly identified when this article was prepared. Investigators were examining whether she died at that location or whether her body was moved there.
Two developments, not one body
Monday also brought confirmation in a different case: the family of 38-year-old Elizabeth ‘Tsontso’ Moselakgomo positively identified her body at the Germiston mortuary. She had been reported missing after leaving her Rhodesfield home for a run last week. Moselakgomo is associated with the body found in Rhodesfield on Saturday; she is not the still-unidentified woman discovered in Olifantsfontein on Monday.
Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane directed a multidisciplinary team of detectives and specialised police resources to intensify the investigations. An earlier government notice said the team includes the Murder and Robbery Unit and the Investigative Psychology Unit and is led by Gauteng Deputy Provincial Commissioner Major General Mbuso Khumalo.
Police are comparing the circumstances of each death, analysing forensic evidence and looking for possible links. The initial four bodies were found over roughly two months in the broader Kempton Park area. Authorities said some were partially clothed or naked, had visible bruising and were discovered within the same general vicinity; the fifth discovery occurred farther away in Olifantsfontein.
What police have—and have not—linked
Those similarities have triggered a larger response, but SAPS has not confirmed that one person killed all five women or that a serial killer is operating in the area. A task team tests possibilities; its existence is not proof of a common perpetrator. Responsible reporting should also avoid treating every unverified social-media claim as an investigative fact.
One suspect was arrested in connection with the first body found in July and remains in custody, SAPS said. Police have not announced evidence connecting that suspect to the other four deaths. The arrest is an allegation tied to one case, not a conviction and not confirmation that the wider series has been solved.
The investigation is unfolding against intense public concern about gender-based violence and the safety of women in shared spaces. Advocacy organisations and community leaders have demanded more visible policing and faster accountability. Those demands do not change the evidentiary threshold: each death requires identification, forensic examination and a case-specific account of what happened.
The public-safety response
SAPS has urged women around Kempton Park, particularly Rhodesfield, to avoid walking or running alone in isolated areas, remain alert and travel or exercise in groups where possible. Police also asked residents, motorists and security personnel who noticed suspicious activity to provide information. Safety guidance may reduce immediate exposure, but it does not shift responsibility for violence onto women or replace effective policing.
The next meaningful milestones will be identification of the Olifantsfontein woman, post-mortem findings, any verified forensic connection between scenes and court-tested evidence against a suspect. Until police publish those results, the confirmed development is a five-case investigation with specialised resources—not a proven serial-killer case.
