A 25-year-old police constable drowned while chasing a suspect in the Phokeng policing area on Saturday.
Constable Gift Mota, attached to the Phokeng Visible Policing Crime Prevention Unit, was on patrol when a community member reported sighting a suspect linked to robbery and burglary cases.
Officers accompanied the informant to the bushy Masosobane and Raffredy sections near a dam. The suspect fled into the water during the pursuit. Constable Mota entered the dam after the suspect and disappeared while swimming.
The police diving unit recovered his body shortly afterward.
An inquest docket has been opened to investigate the incident.
Constable Mota, originally from Ermelo in Mpumalanga, had been transferred to Phokeng in November 2025.
