Gauteng police call on communities to blow whistle on cop killers

Gauteng police leaders have called on communities to expose "cop killers" in their midst, following the deaths of 11 officers in the province, between April 2017 and March 2018.

A commemoration service at the Linden police station on Wednesday honoured the lives of the officers who died in the line of duty. The officers were from various part of Gauteng, including Roodepoort, Duduza, Carletonville and Diepsloot.

Johannesburg West cluster commander Major General Theko Pharasi called on communities to work with the police to find those guilty of killing police officers.

The killers, he said, "are part of our communities. It is the duty of all citizens who know police killers to blow the whistle. Do not hide or shield them".

Pharasi added that those who killed police officers did so because the police "disturbed" their criminal activities.

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"Policemen and women are also human beings. An attack on a police officer is an attack on the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa," he said.

West Rand cluster commander Major General Fred Kekana said the fallen officers were from all walks of life, but possessed the same "courage, dedication and commitment to their cause".

"Many of them did not volunteer to go out and fight. They were called to be part of something bigger than themselves. They were ordinary people doing extraordinary things in trying times," he said.

Times Select reported in July that, on average, 81 police officers are killed every year. Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal reportedly topped the list of the most dangerous provinces for police in the 2016/2017 financial year.

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On October 24, national police commissioner Khehla Sitole condemned the ongoing killing of police officers. This followed the gunning down of an officer outside his home, near Pinetown in KwaZulu-Natal. It was the second cop killing that day – Captain Lumkile Wiseman Tyibilika was murdered in New Brighton in the Eastern Cape.