Hundreds of South Africans attended the funeral today of five women believed to be the victims of a serial killer blamed for as many as nine murders near Johannesburg.
Nine bodies have been discovered since January, dumped in open fields near the town of Centurion, north of Johannesburg. Only four have been identified by friends or family members.
Yesterday, hundreds of residents of nearby townships gathered near a major roadway to express their concern, some holding placards reading "Don't Kill Us", newspapers reported.
Today's mass funeral for the five unidentified victims drew government officials including Mayor Gwen Ramagopa of Tshwane, the municipality which encompasses South Africa's capital Pretoria.
"They will expect us to double and triple our efforts to ensure that women are respected, women are safe," Ms Ramagopa said.
Police Superintendent Morne van Wyk said police psychological investigators had yet to work out if the murders were committed by the same person.
"We are still trying to determine if these are all the work of one person, but at this stage there is no evidence pointing in that direction," van Wyk said.
South Africa has one of the world's highest rates of violent crime and has suffered a number of serial killings.
The country's most prolific serial killer was Moses Sithole, who was found guilty in 1997 of 38 murders and 40 rapes and was sentenced to more than 2,400 years in jail.