A serial rapist is on the loose in Nellmapius near Mamelodi, east of Pretoria. So far there are four confirmed cases of women who were all attacked in their homes.

Police said the rapist believed to be in his 30s targeted women who lived alone or with their children without a male figure in the house.

The man is slightly built with average height and light complexioned, and speaks both Pedi and Zulu, police said.

He was apparently a smoker and operated in Nellmapius Ext 4 to 7.

Tshwane central cluster spokesperson Capt Colette Weilbach said: "The SAPS is making an appeal to members of the public to assist with our investigations by providing information that may lead to the arrest of the suspect."

Weilbach said the latest incident happened in the wee hours of Monday morning where a 29-year-old woman was raped by the man who had broken into her home.

The woman told police the sounds of her crying newborn baby in the room could not deter the man from raping her.

"The woman was asleep inside her house (when) an unknown man entered the room and threatened her with a firearm. He took her cellphone and demanded money. He then raped her with her crying baby in the room," she said.

On Valentine's Day, a 47-year-old woman was woken up by her teenage daughter at about 3am after a man had broken into their home.

The woman told police that the man threatened them with a firearm before he raped the mother in the presence of the teenager.

Weilbach said the man had threatened to rape the teenage girl as well.

"Fortunately, his cellphone rang and he left the house to take the call. The mother and daughter were then able to lock the house and call for help. He stole a cellphone from the house," she said.

Three weeks earlier, a 20-year-old woman reported that a man entered her house at 3am on a Sunday.

She said she was awakened by sounds in her room, only to see a man standing outside her open bedroom window.

She said the man was wearing a balaclava and pointed a firearm at her

"He instructed her to hand him her laptop and cellphone through the window. She was then instructed to open the door for him. Once inside her house he cut her underwear with a knife and raped her."

In November last year, another woman who was sleeping next to her children was raped at her home in the early hours of a Sunday morning.

"He instructed her to keep quiet and to hand him money, which she did. After he ransacked the house, he raped her. He was using a knife to threaten her," said Weilbach.

Weilbach said the investigating officers believe that the same man could be involved in the incidents.

Anyone with information can contact investigating officer Captain Frank Radue on 082 961 5252 or anonymously call 08600 10111 or SMS 32211.