Activists in South Africa have strongly condemned the police for failing to solve the murders of five gay men by a suspected serial killer

The five were strangled or bludgeoned to death in their Johannesburg homes in the past 18 months, reports say. The Commission on Gender Equality said that it was concerned about the police's failure to speedily investigate these alleged hate crimes. Homophobia is widespread in South Africa. This has raised suspicions that the murders were carried out by a serial killer or a homophobic gang, it reports. Police found no evidence of forced entry into the homes, suggesting that the killer or killers knew the victims and had been invited in. The Commission on Gender Equality's spokesman Javu Baloyi said that police should put more effort in their investigations. He said that South Africa's gay and lesbian community was gripped by fear. Homophobia is common in most African countries.