This was revealed by Deputy National Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Bonang Ngwenya, who was speaking at the funeral of Cape Town detective Charl Kinnear over the weekend.
CAPE TOWN – Twenty-nine police officers have been murdered in South Africa over the past six months.
This was revealed by Deputy National Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Bonang Ngwenya, who was speaking at the funeral of Cape Town detective Charl Kinnear over the weekend.
She said during 2019 and 2020, 77 officers were killed while both on and off duty.
Of the 29 police officers killed since April, 13 were on duty.
Ngwenya said the continuous attacks on officers remained a grave concern for the South African Police Service (SAPS) management.
“The safety and wellbeing of all our SAPS members is crucial to us as they’re the heart of and soul of our organisation, and no one will murder and attack one of our members without bearing the consequences,” Ngwenya said.
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union’s (Popcru) Xolile Marimani said the number of officers being killed in the Western Cape was high.
A day before Kinnear was assassinated, another police officer was killed in Khayelitsha.
Marimane said while there was an arrest, only convictions would send a strong message to criminals.
“What is important is not the arrest but the response to the criminal elements that are ravaging our communities because our communities are currently being run by gangers,” he said.
