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The South African Policing Union calls upon Police Minister Fikile Mbalula to convene a national summit on police killings as a matter of extreme urgency. The brutal and merciless killings of six police officials in Engcobo in the Eastern Cape makes this call for a national summit an extremely urgent matter.

We fall short of words to express our dismay and anger at this act of cowardice.  We have calling on the government to prioritize the killing of the men and women in blue.  Harsh words of condemnation only will not curb the continued killings of our members. It is also clear that the 10- point plan of the then Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa is not working.

It is clear that the criminals have no respect for human life let alone the government. If police officials are butchered like this in a police station, how safe are our people in the streets?  We are not crying babies; we can call for an eye for an eye approach. Is just that we are a responsible union that subscribes to the rule of law. Our patience will run out. We call upon Minister Mbalula to act with speed in convening this summit.

We have also been calling for the re-establishment of the Murder and Robbery Unit to no avail. We are not calling for preferential treatment as the police. This Unit we are calling for will deal with the alarming murder rate in South Africa. We are ranked number 8th worldwide as it is recorded that 51 people are violently killed in South Africa on a daily basis. Is that alarming murder rate normal in a democratic dispensation?

The swift re-action by national commissioner General Khehla Sitole in establishing a task team with the Hawks is welcomed. It is however not good enough.

The low rate of arrests in police killing cases and low conviction rate is a major cause for concern. Our members feel they are on their own. The Police Minister is only vocal with rhetoric statements that do not yield the desired results. The so-called prize money for information is also not working.

Our primary objective as SAPU is a zero rate in police killings. In other democratic countries, the mere killing of a single police officer is treated as a serious offence against the state to the extent that the head of government would issue a statement condemning such acts. SAPU calls upon President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa who has brought a sense of hope in the country not to forget the plight of the men and women in blue.

We are also calling upon members of the public including families and friends of the suspects to come forward with information that will lead to the arrest of the suspects and their successful prosecution. These criminals are well known in the community.  SAPU would also like to send heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased members. We feel their pain. This is a great loss in the fight against crime in our society.

We are not particularly pleased that even this latest incident vindicates SAPU as we have complained to no avail about the lack of security in our own police stations. People might feel we do not want an easy access to our police station however, the reality is South Africa is a violent society. The easy access to our police station makes our members soft targets to violent attacks. This Engcobo police station do not even have a gate. In most police stations there are not metal detectors, no CCTV Cameras. How will the SAPS explain to the children of the deceased members how they died? 

SAPU is of the view that amongst practical means to curb senseless and violent killing of the police is the introduction of tougher legislation against police killers.  We are of the firm view that the issue of police killings in South Africa is not given the necessary attention it deserves. There is no political will to deal with this challenge.

Issued by SAPU