The police in Mpumalanga are still investigating the exact cause that led to the death of K’Vanga Lodge night car guard Andries Brits (33) on July 17.

While Brits’s family and friends suspect he had died from suffocation, a provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Selvy Mohlala, said the cause is still being investigated. He said a case of murder has been opened, and no arrests have yet been made.

A funeral was held for Brits at the lodge on Wednesday at 11:00, and was attended by his colleagues, family and friends.

Brits, who was cognitively impaired, was murdered in the early hours of Monday following a suspected robbery gone wrong.

K’Vanga Lodge’s manager, Brian Lourens, had found Brits’s body in some bushes at the bottom of the property at about 01:30. He was lying on his stomach, his hands were bound behind his back and there was a piece of clothing stuffed into his mouth.

It is suspected that Brits had been attacked by two suspects while he was doing his regular patrol rounds on the property, and was overpowered by them.

Lourens told Lowvelder he had been woken by a noise and his dog barking shortly after midnight. He went outside to investigate. He called out to Brits, but there was no reply. He tried to call him on his cellphone, but there was no answer. It was then that Lourens fetched his torch to look around the property and saw two men near the entrance of the pub, who fled the property upon being spotted. He called one of the other lodge guards and a neighbour to help search for Brits.

They found his radio and saw drag marks on the ground. They followed the marks and found Brits’s one shoe, and further down in the bushes, his body.

It was later discovered that the murderers had gained entry by cutting the fence at the front of the property. Lourens believes they had wanted to steal generators. It is suspected they had fled through the same hole.

Brits is remembered by all who knew him as being a friendly and loveable man who was always happy and smiling and ready to help anyone at any time.