The shock discovery of the bodies of three police officers and those of two others in a river have left South Africans perplexed as police investigators search for answers.
The officers Boipelo Senoge, aged 20, Cebekhulu Linda, 24, and 30-year-old Keamogetswe Buys had been missing for six days, they were last seen at petrol station near Johannesburg last Wednesday. They were travelling from Bloemfontein to Limpopo, where they had been deployed.
“As you are aware, we searched everywhere for our three missing police officers, Constable Keamogetswe Buys, Constable Boipelo Senoge and Constable Cebekhulu Linda. We have hoped to find our three police officers safe and unharmed. Unfortunately, this is not the case,” lamented South Africa National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola.
“It is with the deep sorrow that I confirm that our three members have been found together with two other bodies. One being of an administration clerk or a gardener from Littleton Police Station.”
Divers retrieved their bodies 70km away in Hennops River, with those of two other unknown persons.
The three police officers – all constables – were travelling in a white VW Polo when they went missing, a police statement said. Their vehicle tracking device and mobile phones have been off since then.
The vehicle the officers were travelling in was last spotted on camera at the Brakfontein interchange on the N1 driving north, which led the police to search the Hennops River.
“We don’t want to speculate at this stage what led to the discovery of these bodies in this river, whether it was an accident or not, our investigation will reveal those aspects once we find their vehicle.”
