Cop killing: 'Enough is enough'
2003-10-31 21:33
Yvonne Beyers
Cape Town - Enough is enough - police officers need to use bigger weapons, said the provincial secretary for the South African Police Union (Sapu) on Friday after yet another Western Cape police officer was shot dead.
Sapu secretary Andy Miller said Western Cape police should be armed with automatic weapons or shotguns while on patrol, and that they should point these guns at suspects when searching them.
"If a suspect wants to shoot, police must fire too. And if anyone questions this, we will take the case to the Constitutional Court."
Miller was reacting to the death of constable Thanduxolo Mpedukana, 30. He was shot dead on Thursday night after confronting three suspects in Claremont. His colleague, Nikiwe Mbalambi, 27, was wounded.
Mpedukana, whose wife is expecting their first child, died after being shot three times in the chest.
He is the eleventh police officer killed in the province in the past ten months.
Mbalambi is in stable condition in the Claremont hospital after being shot in the neck.
Thursday's incident was the third such attack on police officers this week.
On Monday night a student constable was shot dead in the Lwandle police station in Strand.
Constable Jerome Solomons from Manenberg police station died on Sunday night after being shot in the head by a group of armed men.
Two of the suspects involved in Thursday's attack fled in the officers' vehicle. One was arrested soon after. The other two were arrested in the early hours of Friday morning.
Captain Etienne Terblanche for provincial police, said police officers were being trained to protect themselves.
- Die Burger