Cape Town – Since 2022, close to 30 police officers have been murdered in the Western Cape, and this year alone just over four have been killed, one this week as voters were preparing to head to the polls.
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has called for the killings to be declared a national crisis and for those who attack police to be charged with treason.
They said the police to population ratio remained a challenge with a ratio of 1:450.
This week, Sergeant Nkosinathi Wellem, 44, stationed at Philippi East police station, was ambushed and killed outside his Delft home.
The Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) has been assigned to investigate police murders.
Police spokesperson Colonel André Traut said Wellem had been off-duty.
It is unclear if the motive behind the latest murders in the province is linked to illicit sale of police firearms.
Just last week, Gun Free SA said the country was in a crisis, with 34 people shot and killed every day.
Director Adèle Kirsten said their latest information showed most crime guns – guns used to commit crimes including murder, attempted murder, sexual violence and aggravated robbery – were legal guns owned by the state (police, military and other official institutions) and civilians (private individuals and the private security industry).
Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Reagen Allen said the numbers spoke for themselves and called on citizens to help bring the killers to book.
He said between April 2022 and March 2023, 12 members of the SAPS were killed in the Western Cape, and between April 2023 and December 2023, 10 police officers were killed.
Allen’s office said statistics for the fourth quarter of 2023/24 had not been released yet.
“Our office is aware of a police officer who was tragically killed on Sunday night outside his home.
“The department calls for a full investigation into the circumstances of the killing, and for the perpetrators to be arrested and charged. We urge members of the community to share any information which may assist.”
In April a spate of police shootings plagued the province, the first on the N2 Gateway Delft, where a sergeant was shot and killed during an apparent hijacking incident where three others were wounded.
Also in April, an Atlantis police officer, Sergeant Adrian Mahoney, 44, was murdered after he and his partner responded to a domestic dispute in Mamre.
Soon after the shooting, the suspect was allegedly shot by police, and the matter is now under investigation by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).
Mahoney was killed just days after Detective Sibusiso Nonjezi, 34, was hijacked in Nyanga and Constable Ashley Baumann was wounded during a shooting in Kensington.
Richard Mamabolo of Popcru said the union was not in possession of the latest statistics regarding police killings but they were concerned about the number of wives being widowed and children orphaned – and that administrative meetings were held recently to discuss this.
“We have in the past year held a policing indaba with all relevant stakeholders to put more emphasis on the crime situation in our country and the killing of law enforcement officers,” said Mamabolo.
“This unfolding national crisis has the potential of threatening the country’s peace and stability as the majority of these dedicated men and women are killed on duty while preventing, combating or solving a crime, while some are attacked while guarding inmates, traffic and police officers are ambushed when conducting patrols, with their official firearms and uniforms being stolen.”
Mamabolo said they were calling on the government to publicly declare war against cold-blooded criminals by amending current legislations to classify this barbaric act as treasonous.
In March 2024, the government’s report indicated that during a parliamentary portfolio committee in August 2023, Norman Sekhukhune, the head of police crime research and statistics, said 31 police officers were killed between April and June 2023 and that the number had almost doubled the number of officers killed by criminals during the same period in 2022.
The Weekend Argus approached Police Minister Bheki Cele’s office, which referred the matter to the provincial police. It stated that the cases were in the hands of the Hawks.