Three SAPS constables - Boipelo Senoge, Cebekhulu Linda and Keamogetswe Buys - were travelling in a Volkswagen Polo hatchback from Bloemfontein to their area of deployment in Limpopo when they went missing.
Image: SAPS
THE THREE Free State police constables whose bodies were recovered from the Hennops River in Centurion, Gauteng, will be honoured with official police funerals.
The slain officers - Keamogetswe Buys, 30, Boipelo Senoge, 20, and Cebekhulu Linda, 24 - were reported missing for over five days before their bodies were recovered from the river.
They were last seen on Thursday morning, April 24, at a petrol station near the Grasmere Toll Plaza in a white Volkswagen Polo hatchback en route to Limpopo from the Free State.
A collective memorial service will be held on Tuesday, May 6, with individual funeral services planned for each constable.
Following their disappearance, the SAPS launched a large-scale search operation involving police divers, drones, and rescue teams. The operation focused on the N1 highway, nearby waterways, and the Hennops River, where their bodies were later discovered.
The vehicle was retrieved on Thursday, confirming it was the same VW Polo the officers had been travelling in.
The VW Polo was recovered from the Hennops River.
Image: SAPS
Following the recovery of the white VW Polo from the Hennops River, National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola addressed the media, stating that no foul play is suspected in the deaths of the three missing Free State police constables.
“We are going to undertake an investigation of the car so that we come to a conclusion as to what exactly happened, but from the look of eyes, when you see … the car looks like it capsized first before it impacted on the wall, in the barrier on the side, and then it eventually went into the water,” said Masemola.
He said the police are investigating a case of culpable homicide.
“At this stage, it looks like an accident, until we finalise and the forensics have done their thorough investigation on the car. Let the public be assured that this is what we have for now,” Masemola told reporters.
“For now, there is nothing sinister that we physically have seen in terms of, let’s say, being shot, bullets, nothing. But of course, there are injuries. Doctors will tell us exactly when they finalise their autopsies.”
Constable Boipelo Senoge
Constable Cebekhulu Linda
Constable Keamogetswe Buys
Related Topics: