The family of murdered Tshwane metro police constable Dimakatso Peete can now, at last, mourn.
DNA tests have identified her charred remains, found in Limpopo weeks after she disappeared.
Peete, 29, was last seen alive on November 19 when she left her home in Soshanguve, near Pretoria, to attend a work-related meeting before going to her boyfriend's house in Olievenhoutbosch to collect her belongings.
Police said her estranged boyfriend pointed out her body to them in Ga-Matlala village. The 34-year-oldallegedly confessed to strangling Peete and dousing her with petrol before setting her alight.
"The test results did not come as a shock because somehow we knew it was her, particularly since the boyfriend had already confessed to her murder.
"We dealt with the pain of losing her and waited for the results so we could give her a proper burial," her uncle, Steven Peete, said yesterday.
He said the family now wanted to focus on making funeral arrangements and intended to bury her this weekend.
"She has been at the mortuary for too long so we have to push for her burial this weekend," he said.
Soshanguve police spokesman Captain Lydia Ditinti said the suspect had been charged with murder and a charge of kidnapping might be added.
"Investigations are continuing and the suspect is still detained in the Mahwelereng police cells.
"He will appear in court once the investigating officer has formulated charges," she said.
Peete lived with her boyfriend for two years but moved back home when she learned that he had a wife and children in Limpopo.
On the day she disappeared, the two are said to have met at Church Square, in the Pretoria CBD.
After Peete vanished, her family prayed that she had not suffered a fate similar to that of Constable Frances Rasuge.
Rasuge's bones were found buried under the foundations of her boyfriend's house in March, almost eight years after she disappeared.
Her boyfriend, William Nkuna, was convicted of her murder in 2005 though the body had not been recovered at that time.
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