Women’s safety in focus at AAD as Kempton survivor relives trauma

Women’s safety in focus at AAD as Kempton survivor relives trauma. Skip to content Menu Home | Women’s safety in focus at AAD as Kempton survivor relives trauma Kempton Park police are that the crime scene where another body was discovered on Monday morning, September 14, 2026.

What happened

Image Credits : Calvin Dludla SABC News 18 September 2026, 21:14 [SAST] The issue of women’s safety has also been raised at the Air Force Base in Waterkloof, Pretoria, where the Africa Aerospace and Defence exhibition is showcasing the growing role of women in the defence sector. She survived two brutal attacks in Kempton Park a mere weeks apart, and is now reliving that trauma. When I look at the families of the victims around Kempton Park and Ekurhuleni in general, lives that have been changed, pains and traumas that are going to linger forever with the victims.

But while women continue to face serious safety challenges, the Africa Aerospace and Defence Expo is also highlighting another side of the story – women taking their place in the defence industry as entrepreneurs, suppliers and business owners. At the Africa Aerospace and Defence Expo, the message is clear: while women continue to demand safety and an end to gender-based violence, they are also taking their place in industries traditionally dominated by men. President Cyril Ramaphosa this week pledged to leave "no stone unturned" in investigating the crimes in Ekurhuleni, adding: "As a nation, we must stand up for the rights, safety and dignity of women and girls.

"What we see happening to women is testimony to legacies of violence from those systems whose traumas were never addressed.

The wider picture

Photograph: Ian Davidson/SOPA Images/Shutterstock‘A critical moment’: concern UK is not up to speed in acting on AI risksAndy Burnham’s focus on immediate domestic problems leads some to fear issue has dropped off government’s radar Towards the end of Keir Starmer’s time in office, his senior ministers, alarmed by the latest developments in artificial intelligence, began drawing up plans for a new AI safety law. Swatek Defence and Aerospace CEO, Dr Khulile Mtsetfwa, says the killings are a painful reminder of the violence women continue to face.

She says women now make up the majority of entrepreneurs in their database, with 80% of the 10 suppliers currently under their incubation programme being female-owned. So, in that way, we focus mainly on females in our database. In total, nine bodies of murdered women have been found in similar circumstances in the region since July. The problem has always been there but this spate of grim discoveries has once again sparked a national outcry about the scale of violence against women in the country – which has one of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world.

Nobody has been detained following the murders of Itumeleng or Dineo or the other six Ekurhuleni women. Either way, what has happened in this residential district east of South Africa's biggest city has traumatised the nation, shining a spotlight on a situation that many believe is a crisis.

What has been reported

The official data does not distinguish between the genders of the victims, but this week the country's Human Rights Commission released figures showing that 569 women had been killed in that period (six a day on average), with another 1,052 who faced attempted murder. Many women – already feeling unsafe – have been left reeling by recent events. It followed weeks of protests, culminating in a "Women's Shut Down" march as South Africa hosted the G20 summit.

Rights group Amnesty International said an important first step towards protecting South Africa's women was to recognise femicide as a separate crime. "Every day that femicide remains unrecognised as a crime is a failure to confront the targeted killing of women," said Amnesty's country director Shenilla Mohamed in a statement. It argues that making that change in South Africa could help focus on the scale of the issue. "It would compel the state to confront their failure to protect women and girls from violence," says Mohamed.

"Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesImage caption, Activists held a demonstration when South Africa hosted G20 leaders last yearLebogang Ramofoko, an advocate for gender and social justice, said the levels of violence against women in the country were symptomatic of a much bigger problem – a lack of regard for humanity.

What happens next

"The bodies of black women have been treated as disposable in this country for time immemorial, passed down from colonisation through to apartheid," she tells the BBC, referring to the legalised system of racism that was in place until 1994. "This is not to say black men are inherently violent, but in systems where violence was meted out against them for decades, historically black women were the people that that violence would be taken out on – that cycle has not been broken.

"In Kempton Park, a district of Ekurhuleni where five of the nine recent bodies were found, Lumka Maqhubela is part of the Girl2Woman Foundation group which has held protests to raise awareness of the crimes. ""In South Africa," says Lerato Mzizi, 20, simply, "women are not safe any more. "You may also be interested in:Ninth woman's body found as South African police investigate string of deathsPublished1 day agoSouth Africa calls gender violence a national disaster after protestsPublished21 November 2025I built this 'AI aunt' for women after family tragedy in South AfricaPublished3 November 2025I left my wife and twins behind – why this Nigerian man fled South AfricaPublished4 AugustGo to BBCAfrica. com, external for more news from the African continent.

They ordered a review of existing legislation to see what powers they already had, according to those briefed on the plans, and were exploring whether they could force the world’s most advanced technology companies to submit their products for safety testing before launching them. The prime minister’s focus is on more immediate domestic problems.

The report has been compiled by The Daily Waves using information reported across sabcnews.com, bbc.co.uk, theguardian.com. Details are presented according to the information available at the time of publication and may change as authorities, organisers or other relevant parties provide updates.