Body of Missing Woman Found in Freezer in Upington, Northern Cape

• The South African Police Service (SAPS) is investigating a case of murder after a woman who was missing was found dead
• Concerned family members reached out to the police after she was last seen in the morning of 31 March
• She was found hours after she was reported missing, and the cause of her death is under investigation

Tebogo Mokwena, Briefly News’ Deputy Head of the Current Affairs desk, South Africa, covered a range of criminal activities, including cash-in-transit heists, kidnappings, taxi violence, shootings, police investigations, police shootouts, and court cases at Daily Sun for over three years.

UPINGTON, NORTHERN CAPE—A woman who was reported missing on 31 March 2026 was found hours later in a freezer.

According to the South African Police Service (SAPS), the 46-year-old female’s husband reported her missing in the morning. The police mobilised units and resources to search for her body. They did not have to search for long.

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Woman’s body found inside freezer

The police were led to search for the woman on the property where they lived. She was found in a deep freezer located in a storeroom. No arrests were made, and an autopsy will be conducted to determine how she died. The police called on members of the public to come forward with information that could assist in the investigation.

Murder in South Africa

Despite a decrease in crime levels over the third quarter of the 2025/2026 financial year, the SAPS recorded a high number of murders in the country. SAPS published its crime stats from October to December 2025 and showed that over 2,000 murders were reported per month, and 71 murders were reported each day.

In a statement about the crime statistics, the Democratic Alliance’s Spokesperson on Police, Lisa Schickerling, said that the crime figures confirm that the country is in a sustained violent crime crisis. She said the party was concerned that policing success is measured in the number of arrests and not conviction outcomes. Schickerling remarked that the country needs conviction-driven policing, expanded policing powers to empower competent local and provincial governments, protection of law-abiding citizens, disruption of illegal firearm supply chains, and an urgent lifestyle audit within senior SAPS management.

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4 Briefly News stories about murders

• A 70-year-old woman was murdered and decapitated in Bellville South, Durban, on 19 March 2026. A 63-year-old woman was arrested for the incident, and the murder left members of the community in shock.
• An elderly couple was murdered on their smallholding farm in Plettenberg Bay in the Western Cape. The couple’s bodies were discovered on 25 March 2026 when the police tracked a speeding Mercedes-Benz to their property.
• A pregnant nurse was horribly murdered in KwaZulu-Natal on 29 March. The woman, who was pregnant with twins, was on her way to collect her daughter when she was stabbed by a 39-year-old suspect, who was later arrested.
• A South African lawyer was murdered in Liberia, and her body was found on 12 March. Her husband was arrested in connection with the murder and was later released.

Source: Briefly News