Byline: Kelebogile Masemola
26 July 2022
A 72-year-old female pensioner and her two sons were arrested by police from Bushbuckridge.
The three were arrested in connection with hijacking and murdering an off-duty traffic officer, Thabo Mashego, aged 35 at Saselani near Bushbuckridge on Friday night, 22 July 2022 around 21h00.
According to the report, on Monday, 25 July 2022, members from visible policing in Bushbuckridge acquired some information concerning a suspicious vehicle parked behind a certain house.
The car was additionally covered with a white cloth.
Considering that police were hard at work in relation to a murder case in which the traffic officer was hijacked and brutally killed.
The information guided members to a house in Angincourt outside Bushbuckridge where upon arrival, they found an old lady as well as the vehicle.
At first the old woman refused any knowledge of the vehicle however members were not derailed but pursued and found that the vehicle was the VW Polo which was reportedly hijacked during the incident which took the life of the traffic officer.
Upon exhaustively inspecting the motor vehicle, members also found that the car battery was removed and concealed inside the bedroom of the woman’s 46 years old son.
The aged woman and two of her sons were arrested for possession of suspected stolen motor vehicle.
Police cannot rule out the possibility of adding more charges against the suspect and further link them to a hijacking and murder case.
The suspects are expected to appear at the Mkhuhlu Magistrate’s Court soon, facing the said charges.
The Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela has welcomed the arrest of the three suspects.
“Apart from collaborating with members of the community, chances of winning the war against crime becomes a mammoth task.
We really appreciate the community for playing their role through sharing of information with the police who swiftly acted.
We trust that justice will be served for the victim’s family” said the General.
