Police minister to visit Gugulethu following mass shooting

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Police minister Bheki Cele is expected to visit the township of Gugulethu in the Western Cape on Monday following the mass shooting over the weekend.

Five people including an off-duty police officer were killed when several suspects approached two vehicles parked on the side of the road.

The suspects fired numerous shots and then fled the scene in a getaway vehicle.

This is the second shooting incident in the area after four people were killed in the same week.

Cele will be accompanied by the national commissioner, general Fannie Masemola along with a delegation of senior police officers.

Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said the visit to will include an interact with the investigating teams on both cases and a comfort visit the bereaved family of slain member Warrant Officer Lindela Mraqisa.

“He served as the close protector for police deputy minister, Cassel Mathale since 2019.

“Maximum resources have been mobilised to apprehend those behind the mass shooting.

“They will thereafter proceed to the family of another off-duty member who was killed in Mfuleni on Sunday morning.

“The 29-year-old police woman was attached to the Samora Machel police station. Circumstances surrounding her death are a subject of a police investigation.”

Mathe stated that the number of police officers killed on an off-duty remains a concern for the leadership of South African police service.

She further added that they need the whole of society and government to fight this scourge.

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Meanwhile, spokesperson for Activists, and Citizens Forum, Dennis Bloem said if police officers are under attack then nobody can be safe.

He continued; “The number of police officers that are being killed clearly shows that there is no more respect for the rule of law in this country.

“Organised criminal syndicates are on a rampage, they are kill our police officers to weaken the state.

“The criminal justice system are also not playing its part, they are treating these thugs too soft.

“Killing a police officer must mean no bail and when found guilty a life sentence must be imposed without any parole or remission.”

Bloem called on the courts to show no mercy to anyone who kills a police officer.