'Everyone in that house was killed. So far, we only have the version of the police, so in this case we will work with forensic evidence,' says an Ipid spokesperson.

Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) investigators will have to rely on forensic evidence gathered at the scene of a shootout between police and suspected gang members because all 19 people who were in the Limpopo house where the incident took place were killed.

Ipid spokesperson Robbie Raburabu said the watchdog body will rely on the forensic evidence gathered at the scene as there were no surviving witnesses from the house where the suspected gang members were killed.

"Everyone in that house was killed. So far, we only have the version of the police, so in this case we will work with forensic evidence," Raburabu said.

Raburabu said Ipid investigators were called to the scene on the day of the shooting. He said they "arrived on time" and began doing their work shortly afterwards.

He could not say how long the Ipid investigation would take.

On Friday, 1 September, National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola announced they had broken the back of a syndicate responsible for a number of cash-in-transit heists in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Gauteng.

Masemola said various units within the SAPS had been observing a group of suspects who were planning a heist at a cash depot in...