The three young police constables whose bodies were discovered earlier this week in the Hennops River, Centurion will be laid to rest with full honours this coming week.
Constables Cebekhulu Linda (24), Boipelo Senoge (24), and Keamogetswe Buys (30) will be buried on separate days between May 8 and 10, with memorial and funeral services planned in Mangaung and Thaba Nchu.
The three police constables, disappeared last Wednesday while travelling from Bloemfontein to their deployment area in Limpopo.
A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, May 6, at Bobbiespark in Bloemfontein. The service will begin at noon and is expected to be attended by dignitaries, police officials, and community members.
Constable Boipelo Senoge’s funeral service will be held on May 8 at the St Peter Anglican Church in Rocklands, Mangaung from 08:00 to 11:00 and the burial will be at South Park cemetery.
Constable Cebekhulu Linda’s funeral service will be on May 9 from 08:00 to 11:00 at the Magengenene cemetery in Mangaung. A venue is yet to be confirmed.
The funeral service of Constable Keamogetswe Buys will be held on May 10 at the Thaba Nchu cemetery from 08:00 to 11:00.
Earlier this week, five bodies were recovered from the Hennops River during an intensive two-day search for three missing police constables. Among the dead were Constables Senoge, Cebekhulu, and Buys, along with a Lyttelton police station employee who was driving a Renault Kangoo van, and a fifth, still-unidentified, decomposed body.
Police also confirmed that the two additional bodies found in the Hennops River are not connected to the three missing Free State constables.
National Police Commissioner General Fanie Masemola said there is no connection between the three Free State constables and the two other bodies that were found during the police’s large-scale search in the Hennops River.
The search, led by SAPS and Tshwane Metro divers, began after vehicle debris believed to be from the constables’ missing VW Polo was found near the river on Monday, April 28.
The recovery followed days of tireless searching by a high-level SAPS task team across Gauteng, Limpopo, and the Free State.
Investigators tracked a route from the Grasmere Toll Plaza on the N1, through the Buccleuch interchange, and onto John Voster Drive before locating key evidence near the river.
The Free State Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Baile Motswenyane, expressed her condolences to the families and pledged to ensure that the fallen members receive the recognition they deserve.
After the recovery of the VW Polo from the river, General Masemola said police are investigating a case of culpable homicide. “At this stage, it looks like an accident until we finalise and the forensics have thoroughly investigated the car. Let the public be assured that this is what we have for now.”
“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.”
The Free State government and police have called on the public to stand in solidarity with the families during this time of mourning.
ALSO READ: Hennops River bodies: No link between missing Constables and two other bodies
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