A 29-year-old man from Masoyi, Mpumalanga, was arrested after police found him asleep next to human bones that he had allegedly dug up from two graves.
According to police spokesperson Brigadier Donald Mdhluli, the graves were located in the Swalala cemetery, and the bones are believed to belong to the suspect’s father and grandfather, who died and were buried in 2010.
Police were alerted on April 28, 2025, after someone reported that graves had been disturbed in the area. Officers responded quickly and confirmed that the graves had indeed been tampered with.
The suspect was tracked down to his home in the RDP section of Swalala. When police entered, they found him sleeping with the exhumed bones lying beside him on the bed.
He was immediately arrested and charged with violating graves. The bones have since been taken by police as part of a larger investigation. Authorities are working to understand the motive behind this disturbing incident.
The man is scheduled to appear in the Masoyi Magistrate’s Court on April 30, 2025.
Separate Tragedy: Police Officers Found Dead In a separate incident, three police officers who had been missing since April 24 were among five bodies discovered in the Hennops River.
National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola confirmed the news during a media briefing near the river. The deceased officers — Constable Keamogetswe Buys, Constable Boipelo Senoge, and Constable Cebekhulu Linda — were identified by their families at the Tshwane mortuary.
“It has been a painful six days for the SAPS and the families as we searched for our missing officers,” Masemola said.
The trio was last seen at a petrol station near the Grasmere Toll Plaza in the early hours of April 24. After that, their cellphones, car tracking system, and vehicle — a Volkswagen Polo — went offline.
A high-level investigation team searched throughout Gauteng, the Free State, and Limpopo. Their work led them to the Hennops River area, where the bodies were recovered near John Vorster Drive in Centurion.
The investigation into both incidents continues.