Declare cop killings treason, urges union
THE SA Policing Union (Sapu) in Gauteng has lamented the latest incidents of police killings in the province and across the country.
The union has called for police killings to be declared treason due to the rise in police killings in 2023.
This past year, the police have reported no less than 32 police killings in the country.
Sapu said this festive season has seen a number of attacks on police as well as killings that have sent shock waves through the country.
This comes after a police officer was killed alongside three of his siblings in Rietgat, Pretoria, on January 1.
In another incident, also in Pretoria, two police officers, said to be a couple and living together, were found murdered. An investigation has been opened to determine the reason behind their deaths.
In recent weeks, the union said, it received reports of three police deaths including a suicide death.
“Sapu is disturbed, saddened and disappointed at the rate that police are dying in South Africa. During the festivities of December 2023 there has been a number of police attacks but what stood out were the deaths that left families in utter disbelief …
“As Sapu Gauteng, we had three deaths, two killings and one suicide. This calls for greater concern to the Gauteng Provincial police commissioner, Lt General Elias Mawela and Police Minister Bheki Cele as we are at a loss of young lives that could have had a great impact on the growth of the police service,” the union said.
It urged South Africans to come forward and expose those behind police killings. The union said for the better part of 2023, it had been calling for police killings to be declared treason.