Police Minister Bheki Cele has called for the killers of a South African Police Service (SAPS) manager who was shot and killed outside his Protea South home on Wednesday night to be arrested by the weekend.
Preliminary investigations suggest that Brigadier Malefetsane Jonas Mofokeng, who was the station commander of Meadowlands police station, had just arrived at his house around 19:00 when he was accosted by an unknown number of suspects who shot him, police said.
He was certified dead in hospital.
Cele has given police a 72-hour deadline to find the killers.
"No one should kill one of our own and sleep at home peacefully," said Cele on Thursday.
"We have to hunt them. It doesn't matter where we find them. If we need to find them alive it will be much better. If we need to find them dead it will have to happen," he told eNCA.
Condemnation from provincial government
National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole has also directed the provincial commissioner to ensure that a task team comprising senior experienced detectives as well as the Hawks' serious crime investigators be established as part of the activation of the 72-hour action plan, his spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said.
"Every law-abiding citizen will appreciate that any attack on a police officer is an attack on the sovereignty of our state and therefore our plea for community participation in stopping this scourge of attacks on police officers is absolutely essential," said Sitole.
Chairperson of the Gauteng legislature's portfolio committee on community safety Sochayile Khanyile has strongly condemned the killing.
"Police officers are charged with the responsibility of protecting and securing the safety and security of citizens, and any attack on them places the safety of South Africans at risk," said Khanyile.
"We urge law enforcement agencies in the province to move with speed in bringing to book those responsible for this senseless act and send a strong message that any attack on police officers is an attack on the safety of our communities and must never be tolerated."