Ekurhuleni’s 10th female body: Police reveal new details and offer R400,000 reward - IOL

Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni has given an update on a woman’s body that was discovered in Tembisa South, in the Vusimusi section, on September 26, 2026.

Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni has given an update following the discovery of a woman’s body in Mooifontein Cemetery in Tembisa on the morning of September 26.

Police confirmed that the body was found in the Vusimusi section.

Speaking to the media at the scene, Mthombeni said the investigation was still in its early stages and that police could not provide much information about what had happened.

“But you could see that the victim was stoned, as you see from the crime scene. The team is here; they are gathering information which will assist us in terms of the investigation,” he said.

Mthombeni said the Criminal Records Centre’s crime scene management team was also at the scene collecting evidence.

“The post-mortem will be conducted, which will determine what the cause of death is,” he said.

The discovery brings the number of bodies found in the Ekurhuleni area to 10, while 11 bodies have been discovered across Gauteng in recent weeks.

Mthombeni could not confirm whether the latest case was linked to the other victims.

He said police were taking a two-pronged approach to the investigation, focusing on both the investigation itself and the deployment of additional resources.

“The first one is the investigation; we have put highly capable investigators in this case, which is led by the officer responsible for crime detection, Major General Kumalo, and working closely together with Major General Lekalakala of crime intelligence,” he said.

Mthombeni said the investigation was also being monitored at the highest level within the South African Police Service (SAPS).

“At the highest level of the South African Police Service, we are having the so-called core command group, which we meet. Myself as a commissioner responsible for crime investigation and forensics and the divisional commissioner for crime intelligence, General Mkhwanazi, is also part of that,” he said.

“We are guiding the team and making sure that they do the tracking quicker on all the cases.”

However, Mthombeni stressed that the Tembisa South case remained in its initial stages.

“This one is something which is at the initial stage which we have to look into,” he said.

Police have also offered a R400,000 reward for information that could assist with the investigations.

“We have put a reward of R400,000 to see if a person can come forward,” Mthombeni said.

He added that a number of specialists had been brought into the investigation, including an investigative psychologist who would assist investigators in analysing evidence and understanding the behaviour of the alleged perpetrators.

Mthombeni also pointed to progress in another case in Dawn Park, where two people have appeared in court.

“I think it was in a box, but we managed at least to resolve one of the cases there in Dawn Park, of which there are two people who appeared in court,” he said.

“We are optimistic that we will be in a position to resolve other cases. The one in July is almost clearly resolved, that one.”

The second part of the police response, Mthombeni said, involves increased deployment and the allocation of physical resources.

“The second approach is the deployment, which we have to deploy physical resources,” he said.

His comments come after Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi called for a lockdown in response to the escalating gender-based violence crisis in the province.

Mthombeni said the lockdown was being implemented under the Disaster Management Act of 2002, following the classification of gender-based violence as a national disaster.

He said police would continue to focus on both investigating existing cases and deploying resources to areas affected by the crisis.

President Ramaphosa speaking while on the ANC campaign trail in eThekwini, weighed in on the latest discovery. 

"Well, I've sadly heard about 10th body of a woman found in Thembisa. This continues to make us very sad and in many ways. It's a shame on the men of South Africa that we continue to kill the women of our beautiful country.  

"We are essentially defiling that standing of our country as men. We are going to be making sure that there are a number of interventions that we will embark upon that will shine even a bigger light on all these dastardly acts that are continuing of men playing football with the lives of our women."