- Police are facing new threats including organised targets on them by criminals, Police Minister Bheki Cele said.
- He said the killing of KwaZulu-Natal police officer, Captain Thulani Molefe, who investigated taxi violence, was worrying.
- He called on communities to come forward to assist police in apprehending criminals.
Police are being targeted in a sophisticated, organised manner and are not just facing ordinary street crimes, Police Minister Bheki Cele said on Tuesday.
"It looks like the police are killed in a very organised way starting with [Detective Charl] Kinnear in [the] Western Cape and this one too," he said.
Cele was speaking outside the funeral of slain Kwandangezi police station Captain Thulani Molefe, who was gunned down on his way to work on 14 December.
According to Cele, 46 officers had been murdered - while on and off duty - by 21 December.
He said 19 were murdered on duty, while 27 were murdered off duty.
"There is some form of organised criminality against the police, not necessarily just in KZN..."
He said that police were facing new threats.
"It is not just ordinary police encountering criminality on the street, but there is a lot of planning towards eliminating police."
Cele said that in KZN, there had been increased attacks.
"There has been an upswing of attacks here in KZN, but what is coming up is that this is a group of criminals. The things they are chasing are tools used to commit crimes."
Cele calls on communities to assist in the fight to #StopPoliceKilling he says there is a will to tackle these killings head on, but calls on any information that can assist in squeezing the space for criminals who attack and kill @SAPoliceService members. pic.twitter.com/Fwvywu1NuT
— Lirandzu Themba (@LirandzuThemba) December 22, 2020
He said that in another incident, guns were also stolen from police.
"At police station points, they took guns. With this matter, Molefe was trying to sort out taxi violence matters. We want a better further investigation on what really happened."
Cele called on communities to work with police.
"That war cannot be won by the police alone. Wherever we go, including today, we call on the communities to work with police. The management are here, and we are all here. There are things that will have to change."
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