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Police teams are still trying to establish the link between the parts and the car the Limpopo constables were travelling in.
Police teams found a front and a rear car bumper while combing Hennops River in Centurion. Picture: Saps
The South African Police Service (Saps) has confirmed that the search and rescue team has recovered vehicle parts from the Hennops River in Centurion, where bodies of three missing constables were retrieved.
In a statement on Wednesday, Saps national spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said experts are trying to establish if the parts, a front and a rear bumper, are linked to the VW Polo the three constables were travelling in at the time of their disappearance.
Metal object located
“Saps divers, City of Tshwane divers and EMS, Saps Special Task Force divers, and Search and Rescue South Africa have located a metal object that they suspect may be the missing vehicle,” Mathe said.
“This metal object was felt by divers 4km from the N1. There is no confirmation as yet that this metal object is covered by debris.”
A police reflector jacket belonging to one of the officers was also found at the scene.
Five bodies recovered
The latest developments come a day after families of 24-year-old Constable Cebekhulu Linda, 30-year-old Constable Keamogetswe Buys, and 20-year-old Constable Boipelo Senoge positively identified their bodies.
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Two other bodies were found during the search and rescue efforts – an admin clerk who was employed at the Lyttelton Police Station in Centurion and an unidentified person.
The constables went missing while travelling in a white VW Polo sedan from Bloemfontein to their area of deployment in Limpopo.
Investigations lead cops to Hennops
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola said a high-level Saps team spent sleepless nights for six days combing through Gauteng, Free State and Limpopo searching for the missing police officers.
The commissioner said the investigation and search led them to Hennops River on Monday, where officers found pieces of vehicle parts believed to be a VW Polo along the N1.
This discovery led officers to the banks of the river, where they located a Renault Kangoo panel van.
“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,” the commissioner said.
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*Additional reporting by Chulumanco Mahamba
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