A Limpopo traffic officer has been found dead at a mountain near a village outside Thohoyandou. Police say Patrick Netshidzivhani had been reported missing earlier this week.
He was initially reported missing on Sunday, 12 January, after being last seen while exercising at Khunguni mountain near Ha-Makhuvha village and did not return home.
A police preliminary report indicates that he had been strangled. Four suspects have been arrested.
Police spokesperson Hlulani Mashaba says the officer’s vehicle has also been recovered.
“The deceased reportedly went to Khunguni mountain where he conducts his routine fitness exercises and later failed to return to his respective home. The matter was immediately reported to the police and a missing person inquiry was registered. The police commenced with an investigation in earnest which led to the recovery of the traffic police officer’s vehicle and the subsequent arrest of four suspects – three men and a woman from within the locality.”
#sapsLIM Four suspects were arrested for the murder of a Senior Provincial Inspector, Mr Mbulaheni Patrick Netshidzivhani attached to Mutale Traffic Station. Following the arrest of the suspects, the police went further to recover the lifeless body of the Traffic Police in the… pic.twitter.com/FSDYbAOu4r
— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) January 15, 2025
In a separate incident in the province, a police officer was shot and wounded at Mashishing village outside Burgersfort on Tuesday.
The officer has since been taken to hospital.
Mashaba says the off-duty officer was ambushed by five armed men while parking his bakkie.
He says the suspects took the officer’s service pistol and his bakkie.
“An off-duty police official stationed at Burgersfort was parking his white Toyota Hilux bakkie outside Mashishing village next to library gardens when a group of five unknown armed men approached him. They opened fire on his upper body and the member came out of his vehicle in an attempt to defend himself and only to be shot again in the lower body and left unconscious. The suspects then fled the scene with his service pistol and two cellphones,” says Mashaba.
#sapsLIM An off-duty SAPS officer was attacked and shot at Mashishing Village, Jane Furse policing area on 14/01. The five suspects are still at large, and the police are appealing to the public to come forward with information, Contact Detective Captain Fana Mkhwanazi on 082 319… pic.twitter.com/3fv9cvyogI
— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) January 15, 2025
-Report by Jostina Masedi
