Hennops River Body Count Rises to 5 After SAPS Confirms the Bodies of 3 Missing Officers

• The South African Police Service recovered five bodies from the Hennops River in Tshwane on 29 April 2025
• The men and women in blue rushed to the scene on the N1 after reports that two bodies believed to belong to the constables who went missing on 23 April 2025
• South Africans were terrified and worried that the officers were allegedly kidnapped, and were concerned about the safety of police officers

Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist in Johannesburg, South Africa, covered criminal activities, cash-in-transit heists, kidnappings, taxi violence, police investigations, police shootouts and court cases at Daily Sun for over three years.

TSHWANE — The death toll of the bodies the South African Police Service (SAPS) found in Tshwane on 29 April 2025 rose to five. This was after the police found three bodies allegedly belonging to the three police officers who went missing on 23 April 2025.

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Police find more bodies in Tshwane

According to eNCA, the body count of those who were recovered from the Hennops River rose to five. Initially, the police found three bodies, which allegedly belonged to the officers who went missing. The officers, Constables Boipelo Senoge, Keamogetswe Buys and Cebekhulu Linda, were on their way to Polokwane in Limpopo, where they were deployed, when they went missing.

The police recovered three female bodies and two male bodies in different locations along the river. The three constables went missing after they were last seen at the Engen garage on the Kranskop Plaza on the N1. The police confirmed that their cellphones were switched off, and the tracking device of the VW Polo they were travelling in was switched off.

General Fannie Masemola met with the families of the constables on 27 April He also met with the police team that was tasked with investigating the disappearance of the three police. He also announced that a R350,000 reward was offered to anyone with information that could lead to the recovery of the three constables.

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What did South Africans say?

Netizens commenting on @ewnreporter's X tweet were devastated by the findings.

Ian said:

"This is just so sad, tragic and unfair. Our police are brilliant in the main, and it is just not right that they have harsh conditions and an unfriendly and dangerous environment to operate in."

AsanteXgrace said:

"If it was an accident, then it was fatigue."

Abasei_Ralushai said:

"Only if highway patrollers were effective. This looks like a normal accident, but now we are going to have a lot of conspiracy theories. The vehicle could have been stolen after the accident, considering that it is a VW Polo and the fourth body was washed away by the river."

Rifumo said:

"I think they need to check which cases they were investigating because none of this makes sense. Why did they travel with their car to deployment?"

Pusho Mmolaeng asked:

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"They were travelling via the N1, so how did they end up at Hennops, and why are they found in a different car?"

KZN police officer shot and killed

In a related article, Briefly News reported that a KwaZulu-Natal police officer was killed when he was shot multiple times in Inanda on 9 April 2025. The incident happened when he was off-duty.

The officer stepped outside of his car and was walking towards a shop when armed suspects appeared. They fired multiple shots, and he died. They robbed him of his firearm.

Source: Briefly News