Police Minister Senzo Mchunu on Thursday paid tribute to 20-year-old Constable Boipelo Senoge who lost her life, alongside two colleagues, following a horrific crash at the Hennops River in Tshwane.
reported earlier this week that a joint memorial service was held in Bloemfontein, Free State, in honour of the three SA Police Service (SAPS) constables – Senoge, Cebekhulu Linda, 24, and Keamogetswe Buys.
Mchunu; Premier of the Free State, Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae; national police commissioner, General Fannie Masemola and provincial commissioner of police in the Free State, Lieutenant General Baile Motswenyane were some of the delegates at Senoge’s funeral in Bloemfontein on Thursday.
In his keynote address, Mchunu said SAPS feels the negative impact when any member leaves.
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“When a police officer leaves the service for any reason, worse when it is through death, the impact is felt deeply throughout the entire department. Because we are always under pressure in terms of personnel, we do want to persuade all of you not to leave. Those of you who are from SAPS, those who are here, and those who are not here. Please do not leave. Stay with the service. It is the right thing to do,” Mchunu told the crowd of mourners.
“We understand the challenges, the difficulties – but it is the right thing to do. We know SAPS members are always facing threats and as the family of SAPS we are always facing the threat of losing officers through natural attrition, resignation, or other unforeseen circumstances. Therefore, we mourn the profound loss of these three constables.”
reported on Tuesday that the official funerals for the three constables will be held on separate dates from Thursday to Saturday.
The funeral of Constable Senoge was held on Thursday morning, at St Peter Anglican Church, Rocklands, Mangaung, and burial was set for South Park Cemetery.
The funeral service for Constable Linda will happen on Friday morning and he will be laid to rest at Magengenene cemetery in Mangaung.
For Constable Buys, the funeral service will be held on Saturday morning and she will be laid to rest at Thaba Nchu cemetery.
Mchunu recounted that it is now just over two weeks since the sad news of the disappearance of the three constables emerged.
“That alone was a shock to everyone who received it – the families, the South African Police Service, and the country at large. But over and above this, there was trauma — the anguish of not knowing what could have happened, when it might have occurred, and how it came to be,” he said.
“This already painful situation was worsened by speculation circulating on various social media platforms. Right from the beginning, we believed that the best way of coming to terms with the situation and handling it properly, with integrity, was to establish a 24-hour Venue Operational Centre, with a multi-disciplinary team comprising the heads of intelligence and detectives from Limpopo, Free State, and Gauteng.”
He said during the extensive search for the missing police officers, the broader team included highly skilled and experienced police officers from across the SAPS, including seasoned expert detectives, crime and counter-intelligence operatives, as well as members from the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (also known as the Hawks), the cybercrime unit, among other specialised units.
“Once this team was in place, it took five days before we began to make meaningful progress. As the investigation developed, all possible leads were pursued, including the detailed questioning of an individual who had approached the constables’ vehicle at a petrol station,” said Mchunu.
Using every tool at our disposal, including advanced technology and evidence gathering, our investigation tracked the vehicle’s last known path — from the Grasmere Toll Plaza on the N1, past the Buccleuch Interchange, and onto John Vorster Drive in Centurion. This ultimately led us to the Hennops River along the N1, where we conducted a three-day search.”
During the search in the river, the teams also found the body of a SAPS groundsmen stationed at the Lyttelton police station, Jan Mzwane.
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