According to the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru), about 12 police officers have been killed in South Africa in the past two weeks alone.
POLICE unions have expressed shock and outrage at the continuous killing of police officers after two detectives investigating illegal mining were murdered in Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg.
According to the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru), about 12 police officers have been killed in South Africa in the past two weeks alone; three were killed in Gauteng and two in the Eastern Cape.
National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said two on-duty detectives based at the Honeydew police station were shot and killed in Roodepoort.
Mathe said the bodies of the constable and sergeant were found meters from their state vehicle.
“Gauteng police have mobilised resources to apprehend those responsible for this heinous crime. National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola has called on community members to take a stand against police killings, and to co-operate with the police to bring the perpetrators to book.
“The cold-blood murder of men and women in blue cannot continue like this,” Mathe said.
She said two cases of murder have been opened and a manhunt is under way to find the killers.
Mathe said in the past week the SAPS had lost lost five police officers in the line of duty, two in Eastern Cape and three in Gauteng.
Popcru spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said police killings are increasingly becoming a scourge that can no longer be brushed off.
“We urge our officers to remain vigilant and to work in bigger groups. We will be having a policing indaba in the coming months to scrutinise the factors behind these killings, which will involve all stakeholders,” Mamabolo said.
The South African Policing Union (Sapu) said they were calling for police killings to be declared treason.
“As Sapu we are highly disturbed by the continuous killing of police officers, as we have seen with the two who were murdered recently.
“We continue to emphasise that the re-establishment of specialised units is crucial, because we believe that those police officers were on the scene investigating illegal mining, when they were attacked,” said Sapu national spokesperson Lesiba Thobakgale.
“Police killings should be declared treason. Those found guilty of such crimes must face the full might of the law, and receive harsher sentences,” Thobakgale said.
The Police Ministry sent condolences to the families of the officers who died in the line of duty.
Sergeant Lwando Lawrence Bunga, Sergeant Mario Nel and Constable Lefaka were killed over the past week while performing their duties in their respective districts in Nelson Mandela Metro and Buffalo City Metro in the Eastern Cape and Atteridgeville, Gauteng, the Police Ministry said. In addition, two other officers were killed in Roodepoort on Wednesday.
“The Cabinet at a meeting this week condemned the murder of law enforcement officers, saying it regarded the crimes as a direct threat to our national security.
“The Cabinet has instructed law enforcement agencies to leave no stone unturned in their pursuit of these criminals to bring them to justice,” the ministry said.
The Star
