WeeklySA_AdminBUST: A 46-year-old KwaZulu-Natal man arrested in connection with attacks on 16 women over a decade. Bust comes in the wake of discovery of nine women’s bodies in Ekurhuleni, which has revived memories of other past serial rape and murder cases, which once gripped South Africa…
By Monk Nkomo
A DNA trail and a pattern of attacks have led police to a 46-year-old man suspected of raping 16 women in and around Cato Manor over an 11-year period.
The man was arrested on September 17, following an investigation by specialised officers within the South African Police Service’s Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit. According to a SAPS statement, the suspect is linked to alleged attacks on 14 women in Cato Manor, Durban, and one woman each in Plessislaer and Taylor’s Halt. The offences under investigation date from 2014 to 2025.
Police said the attacker typically followed women from taverns as they made their way home at night. He allegedly raped them and stole their belongings. In other cases, he is accused of breaking into homes and threatening women with a knife, particularly those living alone.
Detectives examined similarities between the attacks and linked the cases through DNA evidence…
The investigation was complicated by the attacker’s alleged use of pantyhose to conceal his face, leaving victims unable to identify him, police said.
Detectives from the Serial and Electronic Crime Investigation and Investigative Psychology units examined similarities between the attacks and linked the cases through DNA evidence. Police have not disclosed when they first identified the suspect or why he was arrested this week.
He is expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Monday, September 21, on multiple charges including rape, housebreaking and attempted murder. The allegations have yet to be tested in court.
Police have made no claim that the Cato Manor suspect is connected to the discovery of nine women’s bodies across Ekurhuleni, which is the subject of a separate investigation.
The two cases nevertheless place renewed attention on the task facing detectives when attacks occur over months or years: recognising a pattern across separate complaints, preserving forensic evidence and pursuing a suspect who may not have been seen clearly by those who survived.
For the 16 women in the Cato Manor investigation, the arrest is a significant step. Whether the police evidence can establish the suspect’s responsibility in each case will now be decided through the courts.
Meanwhile, the Cator Manor serial rape suspect’s arrest comes in the wake of the intensified police manhunt for a possible serial killer linked to the discovery of nine women’s bodies across Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, which has brought fear and grief to families and communities still waiting for answers.
Police are investigating each death and have not established that the cases are linked. That distinction matters: the proximity of the discoveries cannot, on its own, establish that a serial offender is responsible.
But the alarm they have caused recalls past investigations in which women and girls were attacked repeatedly before their assailants were identified and brought to justice.
Most notorious serial killers
One of the most notorious was the case of Moses Sithole, whose crimes across Atteridgeville, Boksburg and Cleveland gave rise to the name “ABC Killer”. He was convicted in 1997 of 38 murders, 40 rapes and six robberies, and received an effective sentence of 2,410 years. The figures refer to convictions on separate charges.
The histories differ in location, method and legal outcome. What connects them is the lasting harm to victims’ families and the fear that spread while the attacks remained unresolved.
Other serial rapists and killers:
• Cedric Maake, dubbed the Wemmer Pan Killer, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering 29 people mostly women.
• Bulelani Mabhayi, ‘’ the Monster of Tholeni’’, was jailed for life for the murders of 20 women and children in their homes in the Tholeni village during 2007 – 2012.
• Jack Mogale, dubbed the ‘’West End Killer’’, kidnapped, raped and murdered 16 women in Southern Johannesburg during 2008 and 2009.. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
• Thozamile Taki, dubbed the ‘’sugarcane killer’’, robbed and murdered 13 women around KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape and dumped their bodies in sugarcane and tea plantations. He was eventually arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.
• Elias Xitavhudzi, also known as ‘’ Pangaman’’, was executed after being convicted for the murder and mutilation of 16 women near the Fountains area, Pretoria in the 1960s.
• Gert van Rooyen, together with his wife, Joey Haarhoff abducted, raped and murdered six teenage girls during 1988 -1989. The victims’ bodies were never found. Van Rooyen committed suicide to avoid arrest.
• Jimmy Maketla was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of 16 farm labourers in Philippi in 2005.
• Stephen Wilken raped and murdered prostitutes, young boys and his own daughter between 1990 –1997. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
• Freddy Mukosi Mulaudzi, dubbed ‘’The Limpopo serial rapist’’, raped and murdered 13 women between 1990 and 2006. He was subsequently arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.
• Sipho Thwala, “The Phoenix Strangler’’, was jailed for life after being convicted of raping and killing 16 women in sugarcane fields near Phoenix during 1996- 1997.
• Elifasi Msomi went on a killing spree that claimed 15 lives during 1953- 1955 while he was allegedly under the influence of a tikoloshe. He was found guilty of these crimes and was executed in 1956.
• Bongani Samuel Mfeka was jailed for life after being convicted for the rape and strangling of six women around KwaZulu-Natal between 1983 and 1996.
• Ray Peter Barber also known as the ‘’laughing killer’’, an English immigrant, was executed in 1980 for the murder of four women, including his mistress and a 12-year-old girl.
• Salie Gamal Lineveldt, bludgeoned four women to death in Cape Town during 1940. He was arrested and executed in 1942.
• Brydon Brandt was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted for the murders of four prostitutes and roommates in the Eastern Cape.
• Samuel Sidyno, alias ‘’The Capital Park serial killer’’, who operated in this Pretoria area between 1998-1999, strangled seven women and teenagers and disposed of the bodies near the Pretoria zoological gardens.
• Lungisa Nicholas Ncama, raped and strangled women around Port Elizabeth during 1997. He was subsequently arrested and jailed for life.
• Ndivhuwo Ntsieni was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of five women and young girls near the University of Venda during 2014.
• Khangayi Sedumedi, dubbed the ‘’Century City killer’’, raped and murdered six women around Century City and Kensington, Johannesburg between 2011 – 2015.
• Cornelius Burger murdered five prostitutes in Johannesburg during 1935-1937 as revenge for contracting venereal disease. He later died in a psychiatric hospital.
