The DA said on Friday that it is willing to work with anybody who “genuinely” wants to take action in delivering justice to the families of the women whose bodies were recently found across the East Rand, in Gauteng, as it stressed that policing is political.

After the discovery of the body of a ninth victim in Ekurhuleni, DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga said women in the province needed more than just advice on how to avoid becoming victims.

“We should be asking: what more can we do? The DA is ready to work with government, SAPS, communities and civil society to find these killers and prevent further deaths. But collaboration requires government to engage with criticism in good faith and not dismiss it as political opportunism because it doesn’t like a mirror being held up to itself,” he said.

The DA has pledged a R500 000 reward for information that leads to the identification, apprehension and conviction of the person/s responsible for the murders and has also launched a petition rallying residents and women across the municipality to reject government instructions urging women to "protect themselves" and to rather demand systemic accountability.

However, the DA is urging the Gauteng provincial government to collaborate with willing participants to find the perpetrator/s of the murders.

“Government says that it wants cooperation. Then it should welcome every credible effort to find these killers, protect women and address the failures that allowed this crisis to develop in the first place,” said Msimanga. “The responsibility now lies with all of us, but particularly with those entrusted with the power and resources of the State, to make South Africa safer.

"And yes, this is political. It is political because policing is political.”