DNA results to confirm in 24 hours if bodies are remains of missing journalist and partner
Deputy national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya has assured families of missing journalist Aserie Ndlovu and partner Zodwa Mdhluli that DNA results confirming the identities of two bodies found in Rust De Winter will be available within 24 hours.
That the bodies were located in a different province was an attempt by the perpetrators to mislead investigators, said Mpumalanga police commissioner Major General Zeph Mkhwanazi.
Should the DNA results confirm the identities, murder charges will be added against the five suspects currently in custody for the couple's disappearance.
The families of missing journalist Aserie Ndlovu and his partner, Zodwa Mdhluli, will know within 24 hours if the two bodies recovered in a field in Rust De Winter are, in fact, the remains of the couple.
This was an undertaking made by deputy national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya, who said while the police were confident they had found the pair, DNA results would still need to confirm it.
Sibiya was speaking at the crime scene in Limpopo, where forensic experts were collecting DNA from the remains. He said samples would also be taken from family members for comparison.
'Within 24 hours, it should be clear,' he said.
'As the South African Police Service, we will continue to work very hard to make sure we bring the perpetrators to justice.'
READ | Four arrested in connection with missing journalist Aserie Ndlovu, partner
The two bodies were found in a bush after one of the five men arrested in connection with the pair's disappearance allegedly pointed police to the area.
The pair were last seen in separate locations on 18 February – Mdhluli at their home in KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga, and Ndlovu leaving Capital Media FM SA, which he ran from a Denlyn Mall booth in Mamelodi, Gauteng.
Mpumalanga police commissioner Major General Zeph Mkhwanazi said the fact that the bodies were found in a different province was a sign that the perpetrators were trying to throw the police off track.
'As investigations started in Mpumalanga and Gauteng [and now Limpopo], it shows that they were trying to completely mislead us,' he said.
'But we are happy that with all the techniques that have been used, we have been able to get to where we are. Our detectives did well.'
Teams from Mpumalanga and Gauteng, reinforced by investigators from the national police, were tasked with investigating the case, using various technologies to trace leads.
'I can't disclose much about the technology used, safe to say that we used technology that was able to show us this is what happened, this is how it happened, and we moved between the areas following what the technology was showing us,' he said.
Responding to whether it took the police too long to find Ndlovu and Mdhluli, Sibiya said: 'The process of investigations can't be determined. Sometimes you find bodies within a day or two, sometimes after months, and some bodies are never found at all.'
He said should the DNA results positively identify the couple, murder charges would be added against the five men.
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