JUST IN: Second woman identified in Kempton Park murder probe

A second woman in the widening Ekurhuleni murder investigation has been identified as 32-year-old Itumeleng Kekana.

National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe confirmed to The South African that Kekana was among the women whose deaths police are examining.

Kekana disappeared from Kempton Park in July.

Local police records show her family reported her missing on 17 July before her body was found near Great North Road in Pomona on 3 August. She had suffered multiple stab wounds.

Family searched for weeks

According to a report, Kekana’s family desperately searched hospitals, clinics, mortuaries and police stations after she disappeared.

Her partner later identified her body after noticing emergency services near Great North Road.

Kempton Park police opened a murder investigation.

Her family has appealed to investigators to examine CCTV footage from the area in the hope it could provide answers about what happened to her.

Daughter left without her mother

Kekana leaves behind a 14-year-old daughter, who is now living with her grandparents.

Her brother reportedly said that the teenager was struggling to process her mother’s death.

The family said learning that other women had subsequently been found dead had compounded their grief.

Police have not established that all eight women’s murders are connected.

Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo, 38, is the other publicly identified woman in the broader investigation. Her eight-year-old daughter raised the alarm after she never returned from her afternoon run.

R400 000 reward offered

SAPS has also put up a R400 000 reward for information that could help investigators make a breakthrough.

The reward was announced during Tuesday night’s briefing as police appealed to residents and families of missing women to come forward with information. It forms part of a wider police response that includes a high-level multidisciplinary investigation team and increased Operation Shanela deployments around Kempton Park.

Police are continuing to follow leads, analyse forensic evidence and compare the circumstances surrounding the eight cases.