South African Police Working “round the clock” to Find Missing Catholic Priest: Chaplain

“Normally Pastors from different churches meet to share pastoral experiences. Fr. Bheki was last seen around 21h30 when he left the group, which included pastors from the Lutheran church and the Anglican church”, Fr. Sithole told ACI Africa June 15.

The news about the missing South African Priest is shocking and scary, the SAPS Chaplain said, and continued, “In my 11 years working as a Priest in this Archdiocese (Durban) I have never heard of such. As far as I am concerned this is the first incident. It comes as a shock to all of us; it’s something new for us, for a Priest to just disappear like that.”

“I will be honest with you, it is scary; it has brought fear to some of us members of the Clergy,” Fr. Sithole told ACI Africa during the June 15 interview, and added, “The common feeling is of fear; it brings fear because we don’t know the motive at this stage; what is the motive behind the whole saga?”

In a separate interview, the liaison person between the Archdiocese of Durban and the SAPS investigative team said that although Fr. Motloung’s car tracker has been disabled, the police have sought other means of tracing the missing Catholic Priest’s whereabouts.

“What we have discovered is that there’s no tracker to trace the vehicle, but we are working with the cell phone and other gadgets to trace. So far, the SAPS is working day and night trying to find the missing Reverend," Brigadier Thobelile Shazi told ACI Africa June 15. 

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Brigadier Shazi, a parishioner of Montclair Sacred Heart Catholic Church, also called on the faithful to be optimistic that the Priest will be “found alive”. 

“All I can say is, people must not lose hope. We are working round the clock, day and night," she said, adding that SAPS is working with community members to find the missing Priest. 

Brigadier Shazi said, “We are not working in silos; we are working in conjunction with other stakeholders including communities in Bergville. Other units of the SAPS have also offered their expertise to ensure that the missing Priest is found alive."

She recognized the help from members of the the local community in the search for Fr. Motloung.

The South African Brigadier told ACI Africa, “In this case, initial investigation was conducted by the members of the South African police, inclusive of all the units in the SAPS. Community members, including parish community and the local security law enforcement were also of great help in conducting the search."