Friday, 17 January, will be remembered for a long time as tragedy struck when a whole family was murdered in what appeared to be a triple murder and suicide.
Andries Naude allegedly shot his son, Henko Naude, wife, Lizelle Naude and his mother, Fredrica Christina Naude, before committing suicide.
The school became suspicious when Lizelle didn’t pick up a colleague, as arranged and later didn’t respond to phone calls nor to people knocking on the door of her house.
Langamed and Roman Alarms were called to the scene to assist. Langamed managed to open the house and Andries Lee, Roman Alarms, entered the house.
Andries Lee found Fredrica lying in the first room.
The second room had both Lizelle and Henko in and Andries Naude was found in the bathroom with a bullet wound in his mouth.
All three victims were found with bullet wounds to their left temples.
Social media was inundated with tributes to the family. The Bulletin spoke to a colleague of Lizelle and she confirmed that Lizelle was well loved by her colleagues and pupils at the school.
Friends of Andries stated that he was always friendly and described him as a very pleasant person. They also expressed their shock and disbelief.
Mrs Magriet Pieterse from Hoërskool Secunda described Henko as: “Henko was a matriculant at our school and was very excited about his matric year. He was a brilliant student and an excellent example of dedication and commitment.”
Henko was a brilliant chess player and ranked no 1 in his age group for Mpumalanga, this was before his illness. In Grade 9, Henko joined the first rugby team when they ran on the field against Bergvlam. He was in his wheelchair.
“Henko made people believe in themselves and believed that no one should wish negative things on other people.” Magriet said.
As the initial shock wears off, friends and family are all left with the sad and unfortunate reality of the loss of the Naude family.
The Bulletin would like to convey our condolences and sympathy with the family and friends of the family.
Mpumalanga MEC for Community Safety, Security and Liaison, Ms. Gabisile Shabalala released the following statement:
Mpumalanga MEC for Community Safety, Security and Liaison, Ms. Gabisile Shabalala has condemned the brutal murder of family members whose lifeless bodies were discovered on Friday, 17 January, in Secunda. The police are currently investigating three counts of murder and an inquest has been opened. It is in this context that MEC Shabalala is calling on families to seek help when in distress and not wait until matters get out of hand.
“Families should seek help when there are challenges. People should not ignore signs that things are not well in their relationships so that challenges are amicably resolved before things get out hand,” the MEC added.
She further mentioned that the police usually react after the devastation has taken place decrying that such crimes are difficult for the police. She has thus called on the communities to work with government in order to bring an end to crimes against women and children because the police cannot be in every household. She further called on men not to bottle up issues but to seek help whenever they feel overwhelmed.
The MEC is sending her heartfelt condolences to the families, friends of the deceased, the school and the entire community.
