The Mysterious Disappearance of Three SAPS Officers: A Deep Dive Into Corruption and Cover-Ups
On June 14th, 2023, three seasoned police constables from Springs Police Station in Johannesburg vanished without a trace just hours after filing critical reports about discrepancies in a high-profile drug trafficking case.
Their disappearance was not just another case of missing persons—it was the beginning of an investigation that would expose widespread corruption and institutional failures within the South African Police Service (SAPS).
What they uncovered in their reports led to not only their sudden disappearance but also a deep dive into a murky world of tampered evidence, compromised witnesses, and deliberate obstructions.
This case isn’t just about three missing officers; it’s about the integrity of the entire justice system.
The events surrounding their disappearance reveal a web of corruption that goes beyond petty crime, touching the highest levels of law enforcement, including police ministers and correctional officials.
Today, we will break down everything that has been uncovered so far and what it means for South Africa’s struggle for accountability and justice.
The Officers and Their Discovery
On June 14th, 2023, Constables Mambu, Raid, and Cumulo were on routine duty at Springs Station.
They weren’t new recruits—they had over 28 years of combined experience in law enforcement.
That morning, they were tasked with reviewing case files and managing evidence, a job many officers find mundane.
But what began as a simple administrative duty quickly escalated into a discovery that would shake the foundations of SAPS.
The trio discovered discrepancies in the evidence logs for a major drug trafficking case that had been concluded months earlier.
Items listed as collected didn’t match those listed as stored.
More troubling were the signatures on the chain of custody documentation, some of which came from officers who weren’t even on duty at the time.
This wasn’t a simple clerical error—it appeared that someone had either been careless or deliberately tried to cover up something significant.
After spending hours documenting the discrepancies, Constable Mambu, the senior officer among them, decided to report their findings.
They submitted the detailed report to their immediate supervisor, Lieutenant Gumemed, by the end of the day.
Gumemed seemed concerned about the implications of their findings and assured the constables that the report would be escalated for internal review.
At this point, everything seemed routine, and the constables clocked out of work at the usual time, unaware of what lay ahead.
The Disappearance: Unanswered Questions
By the morning of June 15th, 2023, all three officers were missing.
This wasn’t just a case of officers failing to show up for their next shift—this was a serious concern.
Police officers rarely disappear without notice, and the authorities acted swiftly.
Phone records were checked, and bank account activity was scrutinized for any signs of where the officers had gone.
CCTV footage was reviewed, and initial leads were followed, but nothing seemed to add up.
What made this case even more puzzling was the timing.
Within a narrow 20-minute window between 7:15 p.m.and 7:35 p.m.
on June 14th, all three officers’ phones went dark.
Their last known locations, according to cell tower data, placed them in three separate directions—Mambu’s phone pinged near Springs CBD, Raid’s in a southern area, and Cumulo’s in an industrial zone.
This was no coincidence—it suggested coordination.
Over the next few days, the search for the officers intensified.
Mambu’s car was found two days later in a shopping center parking lot, keys in the ignition and doors unlocked.
Raid’s vehicle was discovered a week after that, abandoned on a rural road with a flat tire and an empty fuel tank.
But Cumulo’s car was never found, and neither was he.
Witness D: A Mysterious Figure and Contradictory Statements
The investigation into the officers’ disappearance took a strange turn when an anonymous witness, known only as Witness D, came forward with information.
According to this individual, they had seen the three officers on the evening of June 14th, around 8:00 p.m., near an industrial complex in Brackan.
Witness D claimed to have seen the officers speaking with two unidentified men beside a dark-colored SUV.
The witness described the officers as appearing distressed, but the details of the encounter were vague and inconsistent.
The investigators pursued this lead, but things quickly began to unravel.
When they reviewed security footage from nearby businesses, there was no trace of the SUV or the officers.
No other witnesses came forward, and the security logs at the industrial complex showed no vehicles matching the description entering or exiting during the specified time.
Investigators began to question the credibility of Witness D’s account.
Further interviews with Witness D revealed more inconsistencies.
The witness’s description of the men involved kept changing, and the color of the SUV shifted from “definitely black” to “dark blue or black.
” These contradictions raised red flags for investigators.
Though they couldn’t completely dismiss the witness’s story, it was becoming increasingly clear that this individual was either unreliable or actively concealing the truth.
The Evidence Discrepancies and the Bigger Picture
While the investigation into the missing officers continued, it was soon discovered that the evidence discrepancies they had flagged earlier were part of a much larger problem.
The case that the constables had reported involved a high-profile drug trafficking operation, which had resulted in seven arrests and millions of rands worth of seized merchandise.
However, if the evidence handling was compromised, the entire case would be at risk of collapsing.
The inconsistencies in the evidence logs, along with the missing footage from security cameras, pointed to the possibility of corruption within the system.
Investigators found that someone with administrative access had deliberately deleted critical footage and corrupted backup files to cover up the tampering.
This discovery raised serious questions about who was behind these actions and whether the disappearance of the three constables was connected to a deliberate attempt to protect powerful criminal networks.
The Investigation Expands: A Web of Corruption
As the investigation deepened, it became clear that this wasn’t just a case of missing officers.
It was part of a much larger issue of corruption within South Africa’s police and justice system.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) was brought in to conduct a parallel investigation, focusing on the possibility of internal police corruption.
They began interviewing everyone who had access to the evidence locker, as well as those involved in the original drug case, to determine how deep the corruption went.
The more the investigators uncovered, the more it became apparent that the corruption ran all the way up the chain of command.
There were numerous signs that some officers, prosecutors, and magistrates had been working to protect the drug syndicates and other criminal networks.
This wasn’t just about one missing case—it was about an entire system that had been infiltrated and compromised from within.
The Aftermath: What Does This Mean for South Africa’s Police Force?
The disappearance of Constables Mambu, Raid, and Cumulo, combined with the evidence of corruption and misconduct within the police force, has cast a dark shadow over the South African Police Service (SAPS).
For years, there have been whispers about corruption in law enforcement, but this case has brought those concerns into the open.
If even a small fraction of the allegations are true, it would represent a devastating breakdown of the rule of law.
The impact of this case is far-reaching.
It goes beyond the disappearance of three officers; it touches on the broader issues of accountability, transparency, and trust within the justice system.
South Africans are now left wondering how many other cases are being compromised, how many criminals are being protected by the very people tasked with bringing them to justice, and how deep the corruption truly runs within the police force.
