The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service (SAPS), General Fannie Masemola, has confirmed that the three police officers who went missing last week are among the five bodies recovered from the Hennops River.
Speaking during
a media briefing at the river on Tuesday night, Masemola said the bodies of
Constable Keamogetswe Buys, Constable Boipelo Senoge, and Constable Cebekhulu
Linda had been identified by their families at the Tshwane mortuary.
“It has been a
difficult six days for members of the South African Police Service and affected
families, as we searched everywhere for our three missing police officers,”
Masemola said.
The trio was
last seen in the early hours of Thursday at a petrol station near the Grasmere
Toll Plaza on the N1 in Gauteng.
Their vehicle,
a Volkswagen Polo hatchback with registration number JCL 401 FS, along with
their cellphones and tracking device, were switched off after they left the
station.
Masemola said a
high-level team of investigators had worked tirelessly across Gauteng, the Free
State, and Limpopo following all possible leads.
Their search
eventually led to an area along the N1 highway, stretching from the Grasmere
Toll Plaza past the Buccleuch interchange and onto John Vorster Drive in
Centurion.
“Ladies and
gentlemen, I am unfortunately not the bearer of good news this evening,” said
Masemola.
“We had hoped
to find our three police officers safe, unharmed, and alive, but this is not
the case.”
He confirmed
that five bodies were found in the river, including the three missing officers
and two others. One of the other victims was identified as an administrative
clerk attached to the Lyttelton Police Station.
Masemola
detailed how investigators, with the assistance of the SAPS drone unit, the
cybercrime and crime intelligence divisions, the Hawks, Gauteng Traffic
Airwing, and Bidvest Protea Coin Airwing, made the breakthrough on Monday.
“On Monday, we
found vehicle parts believed to be from a VW Polo along the N1 near the Hennops
River. That led us to a Renault Kangoo panel van at the riverbank,” he said.
Divers from
SAPS and the City of Tshwane began searching the area, recovering two
bodies—the driver of the panel van, later confirmed to be the SAPS admin clerk,
and Constable Senoge.
As night fell,
the search was suspended due to the lack of visibility and safety concerns
The following
morning, the third body, believed to be that of Constable Linda, was recovered.
Later, a fourth
decomposed body was found, and identification efforts are ongoing. IOL
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