Central SA
North West police mourn death of police officer─── KEKELETSO MOSEBETSI 12:41 Thu, 12 Mar 2026
Members of the North West police are mourning the loss of a police officer who died in a car accident earlier this week.
Cst. Shalone Shandrey Meyer (37) lost her life in a motor vehicle accident early on Wednesday (11/3) morning on the N12 near Stilfontein. She was travelling with three colleagues in a police vehicle when the driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle and crashed it into a tree.
North West police spokesperson Col. Adéle Myburgh said Meyer, a passenger in the vehicle, was declared dead at the scene by emergency and medical rescue services.
The three other officers in the vehicle – two men and one woman, aged 24 to 33 – sustained serious injuries and were airlifted to a hospital in Gauteng for medical treatment, she said. Meyer stayed with her mother in Alabama.
North West acting provincial police commissioner Maj. Gen. (Dr) Ryno Naidoo conveyed his condolences to Meyer’s family, friends, and colleagues. He wished the injured officers a speedy recovery.
Tributes have been shared on social media. On the Klerksdorp Record Connect Facebook page, Rashida Vaarland described Meyer as a kind-hearted person and said she would miss their long conversations.
Another user, Evelucia Makgoka, said the news of Meyer’s death was “heartbreaking”, and wished her family strength during this difficult time.
Three weeks earlier, another on-duty police officer died in the province. Cst. Gift Mota (25), originally from Ermelo in Mpumalanga, drowned while pursuing a suspect near Phokeng.
Mota, who had been transferred to the visible policing crime prevention unit in Phokeng in November, was on patrol with colleagues when a resident reported seeing a suspect linked to robberies and burglaries.
The officers accompanied the resident to the Masosobane and Raffredy sections, a bushy area near a dam. After spotting the suspect, the police gave chase.
The suspect allegedly ran into the dam during the pursuit, and Mota followed him into the water, said Myburgh. He disappeared while pursuing the suspect.
The police diving unit later recovered Mota’s body. An inquest docket has been opened to investigate the circumstances surrounding his drowning.
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