JOHAANESBURG, South Africa - A South African court on Tuesday found a man guilty of 90 counts of rape, some involving children as young as nine, in a case that has shocked the nation.

The court in Palm Ridge, near Johannesburg, heard how Nkosinathi Phakathi, 38, targeted schoolgirls and forced children to watch him carry out rapes during a nine-year reign of terror.

"He targeted his victims while they were going or coming back from school or work in the morning or evening... he targeted some in their own home," Lumka Mahanjana, a spokeswoman for the National Prosecuting Authority, said in a statement.

"He would pretend to be an electrician coming to fix a (hot water) geyser or other household appliances and rape them... in some instances when raping more than one person at a time, he made the other watch." The majority of his victims were children, the youngest just nine, the oldest 44, the NPA said.

Phakathi committed his crimes in or around Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, between 2012 and 2021.

He was arrested in March last year, after attempting to return to one of his victims' homes, the authority said.

Police reportedly shot him in a leg, which has since been amputated.

On Tuesday, wearing a grey hoodie, Phakathi, who last week pleaded guilty to 148 charges, sat with his head slumped between his forearms that rested on a pair of crutches, as the judge recounted his crimes.

He was then convicted of 90 counts of rape, four counts of compelled rape, three counts of compelling or causing a child to witness a sexual act, 43 counts of kidnapping, two counts of assault as well as four counts of theft.

Sentencing is scheduled for early December.

"The state intends to ask the court to impose a sentence that will send a strong message that such offences of gender-based violence will not be tolerated," said Mahanjana.

- Rape 'pandemic' - The verdict comes a week after President Cyril Ramaphosa said gender-based violence ought to be considered the main "pandemic" affecting the country, as not a day went by without new reports of "horrendous" crimes.

South Africa has been rattled by a series of gruesome crimes, including the gang rape of eight women in July and the retrieval of half a dozen bodies, some believed to be missing sex workers, at a building in Johannesburg last month.

Police data showed rapes and sexual offences went up 13 percent between 2017/18 and 2021/2022, while murders of women were up 52 percent in the first three months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to Ramaphosa.

Some women's rights advocates have accused the government of not doing enough to tackle violence against women.

"We as South Africa are the rape capital of the world," Lebogang Motau, of the Free World Initiative non-profit organisation told a conference on gender-based violence last week. "Leadership needs to do better."