Six women killed every day: South Africa’s deadly war on women persists

According to IOL, South Africa recorded hundreds of deadly attacks on women in the first quarter of the 2026/27 financial year, a period that included Women’s Month and left communities reeling.

Snapshot of a quarter: murders and rapes

Police figures presented for the April to June quarter show 569 women were murdered and 1,052 survived attacks, the presentation said. An unverified count in the same presentation put the number of women murdered at 892.

The crime registrar’s verified figures also recorded 9,201 rape victims over the three months, of whom 8,814 were women and children. In sampled cases, most rapes occurred at a residence rather than in public places.

Eastern Cape among the worst-affected

The Eastern Cape recorded higher rates than the national average: a rape rate of 22.3 per 100,000 people compared with a national rate of 14.5, and a murder rate of 15.8 against 8.5 nationally. The province logged 1,476 rapes in the quarter the same number as the same period the previous year including 112 domestic violence rapes and 37 domestic-violence-related murders in that quarter.

A month of mourning: cases that shocked

Women’s Month was marred by multiple killings across the country. IOL detailed several cases from August that illustrate the scale and proximity of the threat to women:

• Taymin Platt, a 24-year-old traffic warden, was stabbed to death at a flat in Eersterust, Pretoria, on August 1; police said her 25-year-old boyfriend was arrested.
• Josephine Tshabalala, 37, was last seen on August 8 in Orlando East, Soweto; her body was found on August 13 with a stab wound and bruising, and a suspect was arrested and charged with murder.
• Amogelang Motshwaedi, 15, was allegedly killed at Dinokana village near Zeerust; a 17-year-old was arrested.
• A 36-year-old woman was shot dead near Tweeling in the Free State after leaving work in Reitz; police said her former boyfriend planned the attack and investigators are involved.
• Two women, Roleen Lessing and Jaydin Margerman, died in the Reiger Park shooting that also claimed the lives of two anti-gang unit members.

The killing of Amanda Kosani

One of the cases reported by IOL involved Amanda Kosani, 37, who had been seen with injuries including a split lip and a black eye in the months before her death. While visiting relatives at an informal settlement in Nemato, Port Alfred, Kosani was later found dead in an outside room where she had been staying.

According to IOL, witnesses said Kosani’s boyfriend had earlier asked people at a local drinking spot to call an ambulance because he had injured her, but those requests were dismissed. The grim discovery was made the following morning at approximately 6:30am when a relative entered the room and found Kosani motionless on the bed. Police secured forensic evidence and recovered the weapon suspected of inflicting the fatal injuries hidden in blankets, the report said. The man was arrested at the scene.

Voices from the community and officials

Sarah Baartman district commissioner Major-General Thandiswa Kupiso described the killing as sickening given the country was marking the strength and value of women.

“SAPS assures the community that our detectives will build a watertight case to ensure this perpetrator faces the full might of the law,” Kupiso said, according to IOL.

Family members told IOL they were shocked and shattered. A cousin, Xolelwa Baku, said she had seen the aftermath and that the grief was still lingering. A close friend said Kosani had been beaten many times and described the relationship as controlling.

Calls for action

Community groups and experts quoted by IOL warned that responses of shock and condolences are insufficient. Thina Bahlali People’s Movement said Port Alfred had stopped treating the killings as an emergency and urged a different response. Development economist Nthabiseng Moleko and North-West University deputy vice-chancellor Linda du Plessis told IOL that violence is often carried out by people known to the victims and that praising women publicly does not equate to protecting them.

What the police say

Acting police minister Firoz Cachalia noted that crimes against women and children rose over the quarter even as some high-impact crimes fell. “Gender-based violence and femicide continues to demand urgent attention from every sector of society,” he said, according to IOL.

According to IOL, the quarter’s figures and the string of recent killings underline the continuing and urgent challenge of gender-based violence in South Africa.