Relatives of the four Sebati family members, including a three-year-old boy, killed in Mmakau village in North West, are reeling in shock.
"If these perpetrators can be arrested, the only question I will ask them is, why?" an uncle, Peter Ratlhagane, told Sowetan yesterday.
"We're short of answers. We need answers. Why did they do this? Why, why, why?
"For us as a family to get closure we need to understand why it happened, why they did this. We're shocked and devastated by the whole thing."
North West police yesterday launched a manhunt for suspects behind the gruesome killing of a Hebron police constable, Solomon "Lucky" Sebati, 41, his wife Revelation, 40, and two children - Tshegofatso, 22, and Quinton, 3.
They were killed in their home on Tuesday night.
Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone confirmed the four counts of murder and house robbery.
He said an unconfirmed number of suspects gained entry into the Sebati home, shot and killed the four.
"The suspects then fled the scene with a vehicle, [a] Chrysler Voyager which was later found abandoned in the bushes at Black Rock Section, Mmakau," Mokgwabone said, adding no one had been arrested.
Ratlhagane said another child, aged 15, was also in the house during the attack. She played dead after she was shot at and wounded. After being treated by a doctor, the teenager, who cannot be named, is now with a relative.
Ratlhagane said he would remember them as a "very stable, united family".
"Lucky was a very cool guy, he never drank or smoked.
"He was one person with an outstanding personality. Not too much outspoken, but just vibrant."
They were also a church-going family, said Ratlhagane.
"There were Christian norms in Lucky and the family. That's how I'll remember them."
Ratlhagane last spoke to Sebati on the phone last week Friday. He asked Ratlhagane if he would be interested in selling some of his cows to friends.
"Unfortunately I couldn't help, but I said next time please give me customers if you've got them."
North West provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Baile Motswenyane promised the family that police would leave no stone unturned to bring the perpetrators to book.
Sebati became the latest police officer in the country to be killed this year. Official statistics show 37 officers were killed between January and June. In 2015, 72 police officers were killed.
nkosib@sowetan.co.za
Cop and his family executed at home
Relatives of the four Sebati family members, including a three-year-old boy, killed in Mmakau village in North West, are reeling in shock.
"If these perpetrators can be arrested, the only question I will ask them is, why?" an uncle, Peter Ratlhagane, told Sowetan yesterday.
"We're short of answers. We need answers. Why did they do this? Why, why, why?
"For us as a family to get closure we need to understand why it happened, why they did this. We're shocked and devastated by the whole thing."
North West police yesterday launched a manhunt for suspects behind the gruesome killing of a Hebron police constable, Solomon "Lucky" Sebati, 41, his wife Revelation, 40, and two children - Tshegofatso, 22, and Quinton, 3.
They were killed in their home on Tuesday night.
Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone confirmed the four counts of murder and house robbery.
He said an unconfirmed number of suspects gained entry into the Sebati home, shot and killed the four.
"The suspects then fled the scene with a vehicle, [a] Chrysler Voyager which was later found abandoned in the bushes at Black Rock Section, Mmakau," Mokgwabone said, adding no one had been arrested.
Ratlhagane said another child, aged 15, was also in the house during the attack. She played dead after she was shot at and wounded. After being treated by a doctor, the teenager, who cannot be named, is now with a relative.
Ratlhagane said he would remember them as a "very stable, united family".
"Lucky was a very cool guy, he never drank or smoked.
"He was one person with an outstanding personality. Not too much outspoken, but just vibrant."
They were also a church-going family, said Ratlhagane.
"There were Christian norms in Lucky and the family. That's how I'll remember them."
Ratlhagane last spoke to Sebati on the phone last week Friday. He asked Ratlhagane if he would be interested in selling some of his cows to friends.
"Unfortunately I couldn't help, but I said next time please give me customers if you've got them."
North West provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Baile Motswenyane promised the family that police would leave no stone unturned to bring the perpetrators to book.
Sebati became the latest police officer in the country to be killed this year. Official statistics show 37 officers were killed between January and June. In 2015, 72 police officers were killed.
nkosib@sowetan.co.za
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