**PETITION UPDATE: 3,895 SIGNATURES AND NOW THERE IS A 10TH WOMAN**
When we started this petition, we were responding to a series of women being found dead in and around Ekurhuleni.
The discovery of 10th woman's body in Ekurhuleni on 26 September has once again brought the issue into the headlines. Police say it is too early to confirm whether this latest case is connected to the others. At the same time, Gauteng Police Commissioner Lt-Gen Tommy Mthombeni has acknowledged similarities in victimology and modus operandi and says police cannot rule out the possibility of a serial killer. A dedicated multidisciplinary investigation team, including profilers, is examining possible links.
So we are asking a very simple question:
**After this many cases, what patterns have investigators identified?**
We are not asking SAPS to announce a serial killer without evidence.
We are asking something much more basic:
**Are these cases being systematically examined together?**
Ten women. A concentrated geographical area. Similarities in victim profiles. Similarities reported in the manner in which some of the bodies were found. Multiple cases involving sexual violence. And now a specialised team investigating possible links.
At what point does the public receive a clear account of what the evidence is showing?
Because "we cannot confirm a link yet" is an understandable statement early in an investigation.
But after multiple deaths, the public should also be hearing:
**What have you found?
What patterns are emerging?
What forensic evidence is being compared?
What links are being tested?
What has been ruled out?
And what progress has actually been made?**
This is not about playing detective from our phones.
It is about expecting professional investigation.
And there is another issue we cannot allow to disappear simply because today's headline changes.
### THE DNA BACKLOG
South Africa has already been warned about a forensic DNA backlog exceeding **140,000 cases**. Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police described this as a serious threat to the criminal justice system and warned that forensic delays affect victims of violent crime and GBV.
That is why our petition has never been simply about outrage.
We are talking about **systems, evidence and justice.**
### AND THEN WE TELL WOMEN TO "BE VIGILANT."
Yes, women should take reasonable precautions to protect themselves.
But we need to be very careful about where that conversation ends.
Women cannot be expected to solve a policing and criminal-justice problem by continually shrinking their own lives.
We should not reach a point where the message to women becomes:
Don't walk alone.
Don't go out.
Don't travel at certain times.
Don't run.
Don't wear this.
Don't go there.
Don't trust anyone.
How much smaller must women's lives become before we start asking what must change in the systems responsible for protecting them and investigating crimes against them?
Women have a right to live, move, work, travel and exist in their own country without being told that their safety depends primarily on how successfully they restrict themselves.
"PRIORITISE THE CASES."
President Ramaphosa has directed that the Ekurhuleni investigations be prioritised.
We welcome urgency.
But we also ask:
**What does "prioritise" actually mean?**
What additional investigative capacity has been deployed?
What forensic resources have been allocated?
What is the turnaround time?
What happens to the enormous existing backlog?
And what about the other women who have been raped, murdered or are still waiting for justice?
We should not have to choose between victims.
A functioning justice system must be capable of pursuing today's cases while fixing the failures that have allowed yesterday's cases to accumulate.
### 3,895 PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY SAID THIS MATTERS.
If you signed this petition, please don't assume that your signature is the end of your participation or that enough has been done.
**Help us keep this conversation alive.**
Share this update.
Send the petition to someone who hasn't seen it.
Ask questions.
Keep asking about the backlog.
Keep asking about forensic turnaround times.
Keep asking what investigators are finding when these cases are examined together.
Because public attention should not disappear simply because the headlines move on.
The women do not become less important when the news cycle changes.
We are asking for competence, transparency, evidence-based investigation and accountability.
3,895 signatures.
10 women.
And we are still asking questions.
Please share.