Hundreds of people gathered at the University of Cape Town on Friday evening for a candlelit vigil to mourn victims of femicide, as anger intensified across South Africa following the discovery of nine women's bodies in the residential district of Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, since July. The killings have reignited a fierce national debate about gender-based violence in a country that records some of the highest rates of such crimes in the world.

The victims were mostly young women in their 20s and 30s, almost all of whom had suffered extreme violence before their deaths. Among them was Dineo Motapane, a 38-year-old mother of two last seen alive on a Sunday before her battered and partly burned body was found in a field in Ekurhuleni. Another victim, 32-year-old shopkeeper Itumeleng Kekana, disappeared in July; her body was discovered 17 days later, badly bruised, partially clothed, and dumped on a bridge. Only one arrest has been made in connection with all nine murders — and that came just two days after the first body was found on 15 July. Police say they have not confirmed whether a serial killer is responsible, acknowledging the cases may not be linked.

The scale of the broader crisis is stark. Government data shows that 5,427 people were murdered across South Africa between April and June this year. The country's Human Rights Commission has calculated that 569 of those killed in the same period were women — roughly six per day — with a further 1,052 surviving attempted murders. The killings in Ekurhuleni have struck with particular force partly because they follow the government's declaration last November that gender-based violence constitutes a national disaster, a pledge that many activists say has yet to translate into meaningful change on the ground. President Cyril Ramaphosa this week promised to leave