‘Even if he is dead, we just want to see his body,’ family of missing soldier pleads

The family of missing South African National Defence Force (SANDF) member Luntu Basil Hatta are pleading for him to be found and returned to the family “dead or alive”.

His younger brother, Sithembile Hatta, said they have heard “many different stories” surrounding his disappearance.

“I hope we are going to find him. We are pleading with the defence force, even if he is dead, we just want to see his body.

“They (SANDF) must do something, they can't relax like this. It's painful for us as a family and his children are not coping at all. We are at that point where we are not interested in what happened, we just want to see his body. If he is dead we just need his body, because maybe they tried to hide from us what happened. It's very sad,” he said.

Hatta said he last saw his older brother last year in September when he left for his deployment.

According to police, the 53-year-old was last seen on June 2 2024 at about 5am at the Lohatla SANDF base near Postmasburg in the Northern Cape.

Police spokesperson Lt-Col Sergio Kock said he was allegedly wearing blue jeans and a black jacket.

Hatta said the family received a call on June 3 informing them Luntu had been missing since May 30.

“During the week of the election when he called us, he said he was in the Northern Cape base. Then on June 3, we received a call from his office. The lady asked when we last saw him and we told her last year September when he went to their offices and then he was deployed in Limpopo. The lady told us Luntu was missing, the last time they saw him was on May 30 in the morning,” he said.

He said they had received contradictory stories from the SANDF.

“They say he was missing in the morning on May 30. In another version they say they saw him walking in the evening with someone wearing dark clothes. Another version was that he drove out with a car with somebody. We asked what the registration of the car was and who was driving. Nobody knows, so we don't know exactly what happened.” 

Hatta said they were also told his brother had been acting “crazy”.

“They say on May 29, he was acting crazy (delusional) and was naked. According to them they gave him tracksuit pants and it was roll call and they sent him to the parade while he was in that condition.

“The person who acts like that needs help, how can you take him to roll call or to the parade? You are supposed to take him to the hospital to get help. How can you tell us something like that and you did not do anything about that?”

The family feels no effort is being made to find him.

Hatta described his brother as being a quiet person.

“Luntu is just a quiet person. We were surprised when this guy under his command said he likes to party, maybe he went outside for parties. We were surprised to hear that because Luntu is not that kind of a person,” he said.

The SANDF said in a statement: "On May 31 at approximately 07h30, Lance Corporal Hatta did not report at the roll call parade held at the South African Army Combat Centre. The normal process to locate the member was executed by the unit members, but were unsuccessful.

"On the second day of the member’s disappearance, the commander contacted the family of the missing member to confirm if he had made contact with his family, of which there was none.

"The member has not reported for roll call since.

"The unit posted flyers of Lance Corporal Hatta throughout the unit on the second day of his disappearance. The searches were conducted within the unit lines and training area.

"The member’s commander reported a missing person case on June 5 at Postmasburg and the investigation was taken over by the South Africna Police Service.

"Subsequent contact with the family of Lance Corporal Hatta is being made by Human Resource Management practitioners of the South African Army Combat Training Centre."

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