From the ABC Killer to the Phoenix Strangler: South Africa’s most notorious serial killers

Police in Gauteng are investigating a series of recent deaths in Ekurhuleni that have revived memories of past serial murder cases across South Africa. Acting police minister Firoz Cachalia and other officials have described the deaths as unacceptable and said a dedicated team is probing whether the killings are linked.

Recent deaths in Ekurhuleni

According to IOL (Independent Online), acting police minister Firoz Cachalia said the number of women found dead in Ekurhuleni since July had risen to eight, with the latest body found in Olifantsfontein. Cachalia spoke at a media briefing in Parktown and said a high-level team made up of detectives and other specialists from different police units had been formed to investigate the cases.

National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said police were still establishing whether they were dealing with one perpetrator or a group, and had not ruled out copycat killings. Acting Gauteng police commissioner Major General Fred Kekana said a woman in her late twenties, found in a river near Tembisa Mall on 7 September, had been added to the investigation after police checked records at surrounding stations.

Kekana said a pathologist’s preliminary assessment showed that the woman found beside a road in KwaThema, Springs, on a Tuesday morning appeared to have been strangled, and that a post-mortem was expected the following day. He said only two of the first seven women had been identified, and that a suspect arrested in July in connection with the death of the first woman remained in custody. Deputy national police commissioner Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili said four of the five women found around Kempton Park had shown signs of sexual assault. President Cyril Ramaphosa said he had directed that the cases be prioritised.

Where the bodies were found

Police records published in IOL list eight locations in Ekurhuleni where bodies were found between July and September 2026, including around Rhodesfield, Kempton Park, Tembisa, Olifantsfontein and KwaThema. The first recorded body was found on 15 July and the eighth on 15 September, according to the IOL timeline.

Expert view and police policy

Professor Gerard Labuschagne, former head of the SAPS Investigative Psychology Section, said that although he had not been involved in the current investigation, the deaths bore the hallmarks of serial murder and should be treated as a serial case until evidence showed otherwise. He said:

“Behaviourally the close geographic proximity and time frame of the murders and the similar victimology are enough to activate the SAPS policy on serial murder investigation.”

Labuschagne noted that police no longer had a single criminal profiler after the last one retired in March, and said detectives with training and experience in serial murder cases should be brought into the investigation.

According to IOL, the police policy on serial rape and serial murder, approved in June 2016, requires the Investigative Psychology Section to become involved automatically when a murder series comes to its attention and calls for a dedicated task team to inform the public when a serial murderer is active in an area. The policy also describes a typical pattern in which offenders lure victims to secluded places with a false story, often a job offer.

Notorious past cases

Several convicted serial killers who operated in South Africa are described in the IOL account. The article outlines the methods and convictions of these offenders without attempting to link them directly to the recent Ekurhuleni deaths.

The ABC Killer Moses Sithole

Between 1994 and 1995, bodies were found in Atteridgeville, Boksburg and Cleveland, giving the killer the nickname the ABC Killer. Moses Sithole posed as a businessman, offered unemployed women jobs, and then raped and strangled them in isolated fields. Police enlisted retired FBI profiler Robert Ressler to help draw up a profile. Sithole was arrested in late 1995 and in December 1997 was sentenced by Judge David Carstairs to 2,410 years in prison for 38 murders, 40 rapes and six robberies. The judge ordered he serve at least 930 years before being considered for parole.

The Phoenix Strangler Sipho Thwala

Sipho Thwala raped and murdered women in sugar cane fields near Phoenix, north of Durban, in 1996 and 1997. Thwala promised women jobs, led them into cane fields, tied them with their own underwear, raped and strangled them. He was arrested in August 1997 after DNA matched samples taken from him in 1994. In March 1999, Judge Vivienne Niles-Duner found him guilty of 16 murders and 10 rapes and sentenced him to 506 years in prison.

Sugarcane Killer Thozamile Taki

In September 2007, residents of Shayamoya township in Umzinto found a headless body in sugar cane fields. The bodies of 11 women were found in the fields in the weeks that followed, and two more bodies were found in tea plantations near Port St Johns. Thozamile Taki promised victims jobs and asked each to bring money for rent or a bribe, then robbed and strangled them. Taki was convicted in December 2010 of 13 murders and 13 robberies and in January 2011 was sentenced to 13 life terms and 208 years in prison. Judge King Ndlovu said Taki was a danger to society and could not be rehabilitated.

Other cases

The IOL piece also summarises other historical cases, including the Station Strangler where at least 22 boys were found on the Cape Flats between 1986 and 1994 and Norman Afzal Simons was convicted of one murder and Stewart Wilken (Boetie Boer), who killed street children and sex workers in Gqeberha in the 1990s and was convicted in 1998 of seven murders.

What officials say now

Acting police minister Firoz Cachalia told the briefing that police would “leave no stone unturned to bring the culprits to book”, and said the deaths reminded the country that women were not safe. He said the thought of a woman going out for a run and never coming home was “too unbearable to think about.”

Professor Labuschagne said that even if the cases proved to be the work of separate offenders, they would receive more attention if handled by a dedicated task team focusing on them.

About the source

According to IOL (Independent Online), “IOL is one of South Africa’s leading news and information websites bringing millions of readers breaking news and updates on Politics, Current Affairs, Business, Lifestyle, Entertainment, Travel, Sport, Motoring and Technology.”