Category: Crime & Corruption News

Police have arrested two men, aged 32 and 35, in East London for their alleged involvement in multiple crimes, including hijacking, house robberies, and cash-in-transit heists.

They are expected to appear in the East London Magistrate’s Court today.

The arrests followed a Crime Intelligence-led operation, supported by specialised police units, which tracked the suspects across the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

The suspects were allegedly holding meetings at a business in East London. Police located one of their vehicles, a stolen Toyota Starlet, on Amalinda Main Road. The 32-year-old suspect was arrested at the scene.

Further investigation led to the arrest of the 35-year-old suspect, who was found with a stolen Toyota Verso. The car had been reported stolen in Muizenberg in February 2025.

Police also recovered two more stolen vehicles — a VW Polo and a Nissan NP200 — linked to thefts in Berea and Rondebosch in 2023 and 2024.

During the operation, officers seized all the stolen vehicles, along with ammunition and a pellet gun resembling a real firearm.

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, has passed condolences to the family of murdered prosecutor, Elona Sombulula.

Sombulula, a young district prosecutor in the Eastern Cape, was shot during the evening of 29 April this year.

The Minister paid a visit to Sombulula’s family and was accompanied by National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head, Advocate Shamila Batohi and other senior officials.

“This is one of the prosecutors… who was committed and coming from our Aspirant Prosecutors programme but already showing promising signs.

“He was already dealing with complex cases and some of the suspicions are that it could be one of the cases that he was dealing that led to his demise,” she said.

The Minister said law enforcement agencies are working around the clock to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book.

“I have spoken to the Minister of Police and appealed that… they… must ensure that the perpetrators of this heinous act face the might of the law so that the family can find justice.

“We don’t want to find prosecutors being scared to do their work because they are fearing for their lives. [When our] people go to our courts, they [must] find prosecutors prepared to work, sacrificing and making sure that they do what is right but not [risk] their lives,” Kubayi said.

Last week, Batohi sharply condemned the murder as an attack on the rule of law.

“Any attack on a prosecutor is an attack on the rule of law, on justice and on the very foundation of our constitutional democracy.

“Our deepest condolences to Mr Sombulula’s family and loved ones. We will honour his memory by continuing the work he so bravely carried out,” Batohi said.

Over 600 suspects were arrested in Operation Shanela in the North West, said the South African Police Service (SAPS).

Police operations in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies that ran from 21-27 April, led to the arrest of 667 suspects.

“The operations, which were conducted under Operation Shanela resulted in the arrest of 667 suspects and recoveries of among others, 12 rounds of ammunition, drugs, three shotguns, 57 cell phones, liquor and other contraband such as cigarettes.

“Out of the 667 suspects, 35 were nabbed for driving under influence of alcohol or drugs, seven for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, 56 for possession of drugs, 17 for illegal dealing in liquor, 69 for assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm (GBH), 41 for common assault, five for murder and 14 for burglaries at residential and business premises,”  said the Office of the Provincial Commissioner of the North West.

The operations covered all the province’s districts and included the setting of roadblocks on all the national and provincial arterial roads, tracing of wanted suspects, stop and searches and compliance inspections at liquor selling outlets and closing of unlicensed liquor premises.

The Anti-Gang Unit arrested three Lesotho foreign nationals on Friday, 25 April 2025, after being found in possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.

The first suspect was arrested for illegal possession of a Norinco firearm with eight rounds of ammunition.

The other two suspects, Seronthe Thipe, and Thabo Mphinyame, were found in possession of an unlicensed revolver, four rounds of ammunition and spent 9mm cartridge.

All three accused:  Rethabile Ntoyi, 39, Nthipu, 30, and Thabo Mphinyame, 40 appeared in the Orkney Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 29 April 2025.

“They were all remanded in custody until Friday, 09 May 2025, for further investigation,” said the SAPS.

The Acting Provincial Commissioner of Police in the North West, Major General Patrick Asaneng has called on communities in the Matlosana Municipality including community policing forums and ward councillors not to harbour illegal foreigners who are in the main involved is serious violent crimes such as murders, robberies and damage of essential infrastructure.

“These suspects are often arrested in possession of illegal firearms including automatic rifles smuggled into area and which are not traceable due to them not being in the Central Registry database,” said Asaneng.

National Police Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, has confirmed that the bodies found at the Hennops river in Centurion near the N1 highway in Pretoria, are those of the police constables who went missing last week while enroute to Limpopo.

Addressing the media along the N1 in Pretoria on Tuesday, the Commissioner said the bodies of the three missing constables namely Keamogetswe Buys, Boipelo Senoge and Cebekhulu Linda have been found.

“It is with deep sorrow that I confirm that our three members have been found, together with two other bodies, one being an admin clerk that is attached to our Lyttleton police station,” the Commissioner said.

This as police had earlier reported that the constables went missing on Wednesday, 23 April 2025.

The Commissioner said the police “searched everywhere for our three missing police officers” and the high-level team that had been tasked with investigating their disappearance “spent sleepless nights combing the length and breadth of Gauteng, Free State and Limpopo.”

Following all possible leads and after studying all evidence that we had gathered, our investigation led us to between the Grasmere Toll Plaza on the N1, past the Buccleugh interchange, onto John Voster drive.

“We had hoped to find our three police officers safe, unharmed and alive, but this is not the case.”

The two women constables Buys (aged 30) and Senoge (aged 20) and 24-year-old male constable Linda were travelling in a white VW Polo sedan from Bloemfontein to their area of deployment in Limpopo when they went missing.

At the time of their disappearance, the officers were off duty.

In a statement on Saturday, the police appealed to members of the public for assistance in finding the missing constables and on Sunday, the Commissioner and the Deputy National Commissioner for Crime Detection, Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya met with the team involved in investigating the officers’ disappearance.

The police delegation also met the officers’ families at the weekend.

READ | SAPS Commissioner to meet investigating team and families of missing constables

On Monday, the investigation and search led police to the Hennops River in Centurion.

READ | Reward to help find missing constables

With the assistance of the South African Police Service (SAPS) drone pilots, cybercrime unit, HAWKS, Crime and counter-intelligence unit, SAPS and Gauteng Traffic Airwing as well as the Bidvest Protea Coin Airwing, police first found pieces of vehicle parts believed to be of a VW polo along the N1.

Police were then led to the banks of the river where they found a Renault Kangoo panel van.

“Our SAPS and Tshwane divers immediately commenced with the search, where we discovered two bodies, one of the driver of the Renault panel van who it just came to light that he is one of our employees attached to the Lyttleton Police Station and the second body was that of Constable Senoge. We had to abandon the search as it was already dark.

“This morning, the third body was discovered which is believed to be that of Constable Linda. We further found a fourth decomposed body; we are still trying to identify who this person is. Later this afternoon, we sadly found the fifth body of Constable Buys,” said the Commissioner.

The families were taken to the mortuary where they have identified the bodies of the officials.

“We are still searching for the VW Polo and our investigation is continuing. We don’t want to speculate at this stage what led to the discovery of these bodies in this river, whether it was an accident or not, our investigation will reveal those aspects once we find their vehicle.

“We would like to thank the families, and the task team involved in the search for working tirelessly to ensure a breakthrough in this case,” he said.

The Commissioner said police were hoping for a positive outcome in the case.

“Be that as it may, we are relieved that we could provide the painful closure to the families and the broader SAPS family. Investigations are still continuing into this matter.”

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu is today attending the bail hearing of a suspect charged with assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm (GBH) and attempted murder.

This follows a harrowing case of gender-based violence in the Maswazini area, Richmond, KwaZulu-Natal.

“On 16 April 2025, a woman was allegedly attacked by her ex-boyfriend while at home with her mother. The suspect reportedly assaulted the mother before proceeding to violently attack the young woman, allegedly gouging both of her eyes with a screwdriver. She is currently receiving treatment at the Harry Gwala District Hospital,” the Ministry of Police said ahead of Monday’s bail hearing.

The accused was traced and arrested soon after the incident and is set to appear in the Richmond Magistrate Court.

“The Minister is attending the court proceedings in support of the victim and her family. His attendance follows a personal visit to the family on Sunday where he extended his sympathies and reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to the fight against gender-based violence and Femicide (GBVF), a national priority,” the police said.

A total of 541 illegal shebeens and taverns were shut down by police across the country during the Easter long weekend.

Of these, 270 were shut down in KwaZulu-Natal.

A total of 757 suspects who were found dealing in illegal liquor were also arrested – 270 were arrested in KwaZulu-Natal, while 144 were arrested in Mpumalanga and 142 arrested in Gauteng.

A total of 1 166 motorists were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs during that period – 265 of them were arrested in Mpumalanga.

A total of 1209 suspects who were found to be in possession of drugs were arrested – 393 of them were arrested in KwaZulu-Natal.

Also, 249 suspects were arrested for dealing in drugs and the Western Cape registered the majority of those arrested, with 61.

“Just this past week alone, a total of 17 605 suspects were arrested through Operation Shanela. The highest number of arrests registered a week in months,” the South African Police Service said in a statement.

It said police officers across the country remain hard at work in preventing, combating and investigating crime.

“Through various interventions and takedowns, police operations led to the arrest of 3 662 wanted suspects for rape, murder and attempted murder amongst a host of other serious and violent crimes,” the police said.

Of these, 215 suspects were arrested and charged for rape. The majority of those arrested for rape were apprehended in KwaZulu-Natal (67).

Over and above these, the following arrests were made across the country:

• 145 murder suspects were arrested and the majority were arrested in Gauteng (30).
• 129 suspects were arrested for attempted murder;
• 1 574 suspects were arrested for assault grievous bodily harm;
• 110 suspects were arrested for being in the illegal possession of firearms, majority of these suspects were arrested in KwaZulu-Natal (35)

Police registered the following successes:

• 128 firearms were confiscated in the past week;
• 4220 rounds of ammunition were confiscated;
• 87 hijacked and stolen vehicles were recovered during this week’s operations.

Two businessmen were rescued by the anti-kidnapping task team after they were hijacked and kidnapped in Midrand on Monday. The two male victims were found in dense bushes and rescued. Their hijacked SUV Range Rover was later recovered in Tembisa.

A multi-disciplinary law enforcement operation led by the Nelson Mandela Bay Crime Prevention Unit and DPCI, resulted in the successful rescue of a 45-year-old US pastor, who was kidnapped and held at a safe house in KwaMagxaki, Gqeberha, on 15 April 2025.

Police in Northern Cape seized 39 uncut diamonds through Operation Vala Umgodi.

KwaZulu-Natal police seized five unlicensed firearms and ammunition in the Msinga area. Two suspects were arrested in this intelligence driven operation.

Five suspects were arrested between North West and Gauteng for the kidnapping and murder of a 63-year-old pensioner. The man was allegedly robbed of thousands of rands before being killed.

Western Cape police arrested a second suspect after a taxi boss was killed at the Wynberg Magistrate Court over a week ago.

In Operation Vala Umgodi, 104 suspects were arrested in connection with illegal mining activities across the North West province while 11 suspects were arrested by Free State police.

“Police will continue with their operations by asserting the authority of the state to ensure the safety and security of all South Africans and visitors to the country,” the police said.

A 39-year-old cellphone shop owner is expected to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s next week where he will face charges of being in possession of suspected stolen property, said the South African Police Service (SAPS).

This as police officers went to a block of flats in Alexandra Road, Bloemfontein.

“Upon arrival, they encountered a 39-year-old foreign national who initially denied them entry to his flat. After persuading the suspect to grant access, officers discovered approximately ten large bags containing various brands of cellphones, tablets, and laptops,” the SAPS in the Free State said on Wednesday.

Preliminary investigations indicate that a total of 554 cellphone units were found, with an estimated value of R2.5 million.

“Police investigations suggest that this consignment of suspected stolen electronics was intended to be transported out of Bloemfontein. The 39-year-old owner of a cellphone shop is scheduled to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on 22 April 2025, facing charges of possession of suspected stolen property.”

Parkweg police are urging all victims of robberies who have not yet reported their cases to come forward with proof of ownership to claim their stolen cellphones.

“The investigation team is currently searching for four additional foreign nationals believed to be connected to the arrested suspect. Investigations into this matter are ongoing,” said the police.

The Department of Small Business Development has warned spaza shop owners to be cautious of individuals or organisations claiming to assist with the Spaza Shop Fund application process in exchange for a fee.

The department said some of these individuals and associations may claim to be associated with the department or have insider knowledge to guarantee approval; but this would be a false and misleading claim.

“The department wishes to remind the public that all funding application processes are on its official websites and spaza shop owners do not require assistance from associations to complete the online application form. The public can visit: www.spazashopfund.co.za to register and apply.

“Please be advised that no official in the department handles the administration procedures pertaining to processing payment related to the support fund,” the department said on Wednesday.

Government recently launched the R500 million Spaza Shop Support Fund (SSSF to assist entrepreneurs who want to establish startups, expand their businesses, and gain essential business skills to improve the performance of their enterprises.

The application process is strictly handled by the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) and the National Empowerment Fund (NEF), and only accepts applications processed online at www.spazashopfund.co.za.

“The department does not utilise social media platforms to accept any applications and further wishes to state categorically that no official has been requested to respond to applications on any social media platform or personal email address.

“Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) are encouraged to register their spaza shops at the nearest municipality offices to comply and qualify for the support fund,” the department said.

The public has been urged to watch out for the following red flags:

• Requests for upfront payments or administration fees to “guarantee” approval.
• Promises of expedited or preferential treatment in the application process.
• Unsolicited offers to “help” with the application via phone, email, or social media.

Protect yourself adhering to the following:

• Apply only through the official department portals: www.dsbd.gov.za; www.sedfa.org.za and www.spazashopfund.co.za.
• Report any suspicious activity to the DSBD Hotline at 086 677 7867 or email info@dsbd.gov.za.
• Be wary of sharing sensitive information with unverified individuals or entities.
• Stay vigilant and safeguard your business. For more information, visit the Department of Small Business Development’s official website or contact their support hotline.

In a major breakthrough in the fight against rhino poaching and wildlife-related crimes, a 54-year-old Zimbabwean national and wanted fugitive, Thomas Chauke, also known as Sazu Nkambuya, has been convicted and sentenced to 110 years’ imprisonment by the Makhanda High Court.

This follows an extensive and meticulous investigation by detectives from the South African Police Service (SAPS) Head Office, Stock Theft and Endangered Species (STES) Unit.

Chauke was found guilty on six counts related to rhino poaching and wildlife related crimes, as well as three counts of escaping from lawful custody.

“The accused was a fugitive, wanted for multiple charges on rhino poaching and wildlife related cases in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal and North West. He was also linked to several cases, including armed robbery, rape and kidnapping,” the South African Police Service (SAPS) said in a statement.

The SAPS said Chauke had previously been incarcerated at Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Services, where he was serving five life sentences for violent crimes, including rape, armed, robbery and kidnapping. He escaped from custody on 9 December 2020, prompting further investigation and search efforts by STES.

Following his arrest in 2024, the STES team coordinated the centralisation of multiple dockets from various provinces and liaised with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), to ensure effective coordination and successful prosecution of the accused.

On 28 February 2025, Chauke pleaded guilty to all rhino poaching and wild life related cases, including three counts of escaping from lawful custody, and was sentenced to 110 years imprisonment by the Makhanda High Court.

“The STES team remains dedicated to safeguarding both wildlife and the community from individuals engaged in criminal activities and ensuring that those responsible are brought to book and held accountable,” the SAPS said.

Gauteng police have arrested over 1000 suspects for various crimes over the past week.

The arrests were effected through Operation Shanela.

“During the operation, a total of 81 undocumented persons were arrested, while 105 were nabbed for drunk driving and 13 for possession of drugs. About 10 unlicensed liquor outlets were closed down and a substantial amount of liquor was also seized throughout the province,” said the South African Police Service (SAPS) in a statement.

In a statement on Sunday, the SAPS said among the 1067 arrests, 840 were wanted suspects arrested by the detectives across the province during their tracing of wanted suspects operation.

Some of the arrested suspects have already been released after paying fines, while the others are expected to appear before Magistrate’s Courts across the province.

The actions conducted on the operations included roadblocks, stop and searches, liquor and second-hand goods compliance inspections, vehicle checkpoints and patrols.

“The police in Gauteng remain resolute in fighting crime and ensuring the safety of its communities,” said the SAPS.