Sotyu: ‘Can't be right that we’ve lost a whopping 58 cops’

“There is a deafening silence when a police officer is killed‚ but when a police officer kills a civilian by mistake‚ there is drowning noise.”

For this reason‚ Deputy Police Minister Maggie Sotyu said on Tuesday‚ President Jacob Zuma should be thanked “for sharply raising the issue of the killing of police officers‚ as a serious national concern”.

Sotyu‚ speaking during a National Council of Provinces debate on the issue‚ said that Saturday would see South Africans “honouring our fallen heroes and heroines in blue”.

“This is just not another commemoration event in our calendar year‚ but it is a very solemn show of active solidarity by our president and government to all the families of these heroes‚ and to the nation at large‚” she said‚ adding that the gravitas was evidenced in the fact it would be held at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

“It can’t be right that within eight months‚ we have lost a whopping 58 police officers‚ counting from January 2015. These are human beings that we are talking about‚ who have a unique mandate to protect you‚ the whole country and myself.

“Violence towards people and police alike is not acceptable. And‚ thus stereotyping and prejudicing any kind of violence will not serve any purpose; it will rather escalate the problem.”

Sotyu acknowledged that “there are some bad apples within the South African Police Service (SAPS)”‚ but said these are being “decisively” dealt with.

“Police officers‚ who have been found guilty of any crime‚ are duly arrested‚ charged and prosecuted‚” she said.

“And‚ every police officer knows that consequences are severe‚ if he/she is implicated in any corrupt or criminal act.

“But‚ as the SAPS Leadership‚ we will not allow certain so-called experts to vilify and negatively generalize about our police officers’ conduct. We will discredit with contempt any destructive criticism with a distorted notion that this country has no systems of good governance in place.”