DURBAN - THE Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union has reiterated its call for a policing Indaba to consider measures in collectively dealing with the root causes of police killings in the country.
Spokesperson Richard Mamabolo made the call after six police officers were attacked in separate incidents within 48 hours in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
Mamabolo said it was sad that members of the SAPS continued to be targets of criminal elements and were being killed on a regular basis.
Police spokesperson Colonel Athlenda Mathe said that on Tuesday morning, in Orange Farm, Gauteng, two officers were patrolling in an unmarked police vehicle when they noticed an abandoned bakkie on the side of the road.
“When they approached the bakkie, a group of men opened fire on them, wounding both members.
“A reservist constable died at the scene. The other officer is recovering in hospital. The men took the police vehicle keys as they fled.”
On Monday morning, in Sydenham, officers were conducting patrols along Locksley Drive when they spotted a suspicious bakkie with three men. When the police stopped the bakkie, the men inside shot at the officers.
Mathe said one officer was wounded and was recovering in hospital.
The men fled on foot, leaving an unlicensed firearm and the bakkie.
Sydenham Community Policing Forum (CPF) spokesperson Mansoor Akoo said the men were allegedly trying to steal the bakkie.
He said it was a concern when police officers were shot. He said most stations were understaffed.
eThekwini Secure CPF spokesperson Zain Soosiwala said video footage of the incident was a sobering reminder of what it meant to be a police officer and a patroller in society.
On Sunday evening, an officer died, and two were wounded in two separate incidents in Greytown, KZN.
In the first incident, two officers were driving from Greytown to Tugela Ferry. They stopped alongside the road.
Mathe said an unknown motor vehicle stopped beside the police vehicle and shot both officers.
In the second incident, an officer was walking alongside the railway line between Gugulethu and Nhlalakahle Location when he was held up by two robbers. They demanded cash and his cellphone. The officer surrendered his possessions.
“He managed to draw his state firearm and shot one of the men. The second robber shot the officer in his leg and fled the scene. The robber died on the scene,” Mathe said.
Police task teams were investigating cases of murder, attempted murder, inquest and armed robbery. Watch the video of the Sydenham shooting on IOL.
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