A ward councillor in Kwa-Thema, Ekurhuleni, believes the body of a woman discovered in the area on Tuesday morning may have been dumped there.
The discovery brings to six the number of women’s bodies found across Ekurhuleni since July.
City of Ekurhuleni councillor Sizwe Nhleko says community members alerted authorities to the latest discovery through a WhatsApp group.
Police and forensic investigators were called to the scene and are examining the area for evidence that could help establish the circumstances surrounding the woman’s death.
Nhleko says the condition of the body suggested that it had been at the location for some time.
“This morning we just received a WhatsApp message from all the work groups saying that there’s a body found here of a woman. We then rushed here to discover that the body was a woman,” he says.
Nhleko believes the location may not have been where the woman was killed.
“When you check the scene you can see this incident never happened here but the body was dumped here because the body was starting to decompose,” he says.
He says police carried out an initial examination of the body after arriving at the scene.
“All that information we just got from the police when they did their investigation. As they arrived, they opened the body and they went in to check what was happening and what might be the cause [of death]. They then saw that the body was starting to decompose,” Nhleko says.
Police have not yet released further details about the woman's identity or the circumstances surrounding her death.
The latest discovery comes amid heightened concern over a series of women’s bodies found in different parts of Ekurhuleni in recent months.
Investigations are continuing to determine whether there is any connection between the cases.