Three missing police officers among five dead pulled from Hennops River, as shocked families identify bodies

The families of Linda Cebekhulu, Boipelo Senoge (20) and Keamogetswe Buys have positively identified their loved ones among the five bodies that were discovered in Hennops River, Centurion, on Monday and Tuesday.

The three SA Police Service (SAPS) constables went missing last week when they travelled from the Free State to Limpopo, where they had been deployed. The white VW Polo they were travelling in was last seen on video near the Brakfontein interchange in Centurion.

The ensuing search, led by a crack team of SAPS investigators, led police to the Hennops River along the N1, where two bodies were discovered on Monday and three on Tuesday.

On Tuesday evening, the national police commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, held a media briefing near where the bodies were found.

Police Commissioner Fanie Masemola (centre) at the scene where bodies were found. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

“We had hoped to find our three police officers safe and unharmed. Unfortunately, this is not the case. It is with deep sorrow that I confirm that our three members have been found together with two other bodies,” said Masemola.

The police commissioner said the fourth body was that of an administration clerk from Lyttelton Police Station, while the fifth decomposed body had yet to be identified.

The circumstances of the officers’ deaths are still being investigated.

Masemola said that on Monday, the investigative team found parts of what police believed to be the constables’ VW Polo on the N1 highway bridge over the Hennops River just after the Brakfontein interchange.

The guardrail on the bridge was damaged, indicating that the Polo may have struck it. However, Masemola said that uncovering what exactly occurred hinged on locating the vehicle.

“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,” he said.

Cebekhulu’s body was found on Monday, while Buys and Senoge’s bodies were found on Tuesday.

Members of the police on the N1 near the Hennops River on Tuesday night. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

Families visit the scene 

“The last time I spoke to Boipelo was on Wednesday night when they were leaving for Polokwane,” said Paul Senoge, Boipelo Senego’s father. “I put her bags in the car for her and said goodbye. Now here I am today, and I just had to identify my child’s body.”

Paul Senoge at the scene where bodies were found, including that of his police daughter Boipelo. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

Her mother, Jane Senoge, was visibly shaken and struggled to hold back tears as SAPS officers showed them the suspected accident site.

“You will never understand how it feels to find the body of someone you have been desperately looking for. I was not thinking about the investigations, I just wanted to find my baby, that’s all. It is so painful to lose a child as young as Boipelo,” she said.

The other bodies 

Monday’s search also uncovered a Renault panel van which belonged to the Lyttelton Police Station clerk.

Masemola said the clerk’s wife told police that he had visited friends in the area on Saturday afternoon but did not return home.

A diving unit member at the second location along the Hennops River where the fifth body was found. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

A passer-by spotted the vehicle in the river and alerted police, leading to the discovery of the body.

“The body … was found far down the river. We don’t think his vehicle entered the river here. It may have entered at another point because the place where he had gonna to visit his friends is more towards Waterkloof Air Force Base,” said Masemola.

He said that there was no evidence that the contables’ bodies were linked to the clerk or the unidentified body and that a case of culpable homicide had been opened. DM