Jabulile Ntimba murder: Ramaphosa vows action amid love-triangle probe
· The South African
Police are probing whether a relationship dispute, including a possible love triangle, led to the murder of Jabulile Ntimba in Boksburg.
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Ntimba’s partially clothed body lay face down in an open area in Villa Liza near Dawn Park when authorities discovered her on Thursday, 17 September.
Deputy National Police Commissioner for Policing Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili revealed on Monday that investigators had uncovered information pointing to a possible relationship-related motive.
The development gives police a clearer line of inquiry in Ntimba’s case as detectives continue investigating the deaths of women across Ekurhuleni.
Police probe possible relationship motive
Mosikili said investigators were examining whether a relationship dispute played a role in Ntimba’s murder, including what police have described as a possible love triangle.
However, she declined to reveal further details because the case has already entered the court process.
“We will leave it to the courts to unpack the evidence and, ultimately, the motive behind her killing,” Mosikili said.
Investigators are treating Ntimba’s murder separately from the other eight Ekurhuleni cases.
Police have also ruled out a possible serial-killer link in her death but continue examining whether any of the other cases share connections.
Three arrested over Ntimba’s murder
The Gauteng Murder and Robbery Unit arrested two women and a man over the weekend in connection with Ntimba’s killing.
The trio appeared in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Their arrests marked a significant breakthrough in one of the nine cases that have gripped Ekurhuleni over the past two months.
Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane said detectives were treating all nine investigations as priority cases.
Teams of detectives, forensic experts, fingerprint specialists and other policing units continue to follow evidence and leads in each investigation.
Authorities initially identified Ntimba incorrectly as 24-year-old Tebello Monamodi from Vosloorus.
Monamodi later returned home alive, and police subsequently confirmed Ntimba as the woman found dead in Villa Liza.
The deaths have sparked growing concern about women’s safety in Gauteng and intensified calls for authorities to act.
Police also widened their investigation after another young woman’s body turned up in Soweto over the weekend.
Authorities found the woman, believed to be in her 20s, wrapped in a duvet in a dam in Moroka on Sunday, 20 September.
Investigators have not established a link between the Soweto case and the deaths in Ekurhuleni.
Ramaphosa: GBV is a national crisis
In light of this, President Cyril Ramaphosa called on men to take greater responsibility for ending violence against women.
“And the message must also go to men. Men must continue respecting women, honouring women,” Ramaphosa said in Johannesburg on Monday.
“The women of our country are the builders of the nation. They carry this nation on their shoulders.”
Ramaphosa said the abuse and killing of women represented “a real blight against all of us”.
“Gender-based violence is not only a problem for women. It’s a national crisis, and we need to be treating it with exactly that.”
He said government would strengthen its response as fear over violence against women continued to grow.
More money, resources and technology
Ramaphosa pledged additional state resources to tackle gender-based violence and femicide.
“We’re going to even be deploying more money, more resources, more technology to ensure that we deal with the fear that women are now subjected to,” he said.
He said government’s Inter-Ministerial Committee on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide would introduce further initiatives.
Ramaphosa also said government had a duty to protect women.
“Government is there to protect the people of South Africa, plain and simple. So when things like these happen, government should take responsibility.”
He said women deserved to walk South Africa’s streets without fearing men.
“We are taking this very seriously. I have always spoken against gender-based violence throughout the years, and will continue spreading the message that as the government of South Africa we are committed to protecting women.
“We are committed to ensuring that the lives of our women are safe.”