By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
SA Police Services (SAPS) have found two bodies believed to be those of Tshwane radio journalist Sibusiso Aserie Ndlovu and his partner Zodwa Precious Mdhluli.
Ndlovu and Mdluli went missing on Tuesday, 18 February 2025. Ndlovu is the founder of Capital Live, a radio station in Pretoria.
According to a private forensic investigator, Calvin Rafadi, who volunteered to help with the case pro bono, Ndlovu left the Capital Live offices in Mamelodi, Pretoria, in his VW Golf after 6pm, which was his normal time to leave work, and there was no indication that he was being followed.
He then went to an ATM at Denlyn Shopping Centre in Mamelodi and was seen on CCTV footage leaving the centre. He then left for KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga, where he shares a house with Mdluli. Ndlovu was last seen wearing blue jeans, a long-sleeved white top and a pair of sneakers.
It’s believed that Ndlovu met Mdluli at their KwaMhlanga house. Then, according to the locations of their phones, they left the house later that evening and were traced to somewhere in Bronkhorstspruit.
Two cases have been opened with the police – a missing person’s case and a housebreaking case.
The African Media and Communicators Forum, in collaboration with the National Press Council, has announced a reward of R50,000 for credible information that aids the police in advancing their investigation.
National commissioner of the SA Police Service (SAPS), General Fannie Masemola, told journalists that the remains of the two people will now undergo rigorous tests to determine their identity.
“The process with the human remains we have found, they would be taken to the pathologists and we will take DNA, process it with the closest relatives – it might be one or two relatives to determine the identity of those remains.
“Then we can confirm that it is indeed them or not,” Masemola, who was with Police Minister Senzo Mchunu addressed journalists in Bloemfontein at the funeral of 20-year-old Constable Boipelo Senoge who lost her life last month, alongside two colleagues, following a horrific crash at the Hennops River in Tshwane.
Masemola said the area where the remains were found was pointed out by one of the arrested suspects.
“One of the suspects did point out, not exactly there, but he did point out. We then searched the area and we found the remains. We did not take ourselves there, they (the suspect) did take us,” he said.
Mchunu who delivered a eulogy at the funeral at the funeral of Constable Boipelo Senoge appealed to SAPS members not to leave the service, despite the challenges they face in the line of duty.’
The constables had been missing for more than five days. Senoge was laid to rest in Bloemfontein today, while Constables Cebekhulu Linda and Keamogetswe Buys will be buried on Friday and Saturday respectively.
“Stay in the service, it is the right thing to do. We understand the challenges, the difficulties, but it is the right thing to do,” said Mchunu.
He acknowledged the ongoing risks police officers face, noting that the SAPS regularly deals with the loss of its members through natural causes, resignation or other circumstances.
Meanwhile Hawks boss Lieutenant General Dr/Advocate Godfrey Lebeya presented a sobering report of the crime situation.
He said that during the period January 2025 until March 2025, a total of 656 people were arrested, the majority of them being South African.
The majority of these arrests were made in Gauteng, with 139 recorded, followed by 99 arrests in North West and 88 in KwaZulu-Natal.
During these arrests, 395 firearms and 1,746 rounds of ammunition were seized.
Seven clandestine drug laboratories were dismantled with drugs worth a total street value of over R23 million.
He said the Priority Crime Specialised Investigation (PCSI) contributed towards issuing 102 freezing and forfeiture orders amounting to over R418 million. Of these orders, 56 were Preservation Orders with a monetary value of over R370 million.
Lebeya said over R19 million had been deposited into the Criminal Assets Recovery Account (CARA).
In three months, 22 police officers were killed. The majority of them – 16 – were off-duty at the time of their murder.
Lebeya said an attack on police officials is an assault on society and indeed, an attack on the State.
“We categorised the killing of police officials as a national priority offence that requires the attention of the Hawks.”
Fifty per cent of the murders took place in Gauteng.
Concerning police killings, Lebeya said 38 people were arrested, 14 convictions secured, and 11 life imprisonments handed down by the courts.