Cele reiterates call for police to shoot first at suspects

Police minister Bheki Cele has again called on police to act first when in pursuit of armed suspects and killers.

Cele was speaking at the funeral of anti-gang unit member W/O Dalmain Morris in Lenasia on Saturday. Morris was killed while taking a statement from a witness. He was shot by assailants driving a white Renault Clio in Westbury last week. 

A few days before Morris’ murder, Const Holeng Makobe was shot dead while patrolling in Mabopane, north of Pretoria. Earlier in September, a 37-year-old police sergeant was shot dead while off-duty and visiting a friend in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. 

“I’ve made that call. If police are chasing somebody who has killed an officer and took his firearm or broke into the station and stole firearms, don’t wait for that person to shoot you,” Cele told mourners.

On the Saturday evening Morris was buried, deputy police minister Cassel Mathale’s bodyguard, W/O Lindela Mraqisa, was shot dead in Gugulethu.

According to the latest crime statistics, 31 police officers were killed from April to June. Eighteen officers were killed during the same period last year. 

Police unions have been putting pressure on SAPS management to provide strategies to improve the safety of police officers. 

“We demand the Gauteng provincial commissioner [Lt-Gen Elias Mawela] shows up and runs active strategies on the safety of the men and women in blue. We cannot sit back and watch our colleagues die and nothing is being done,” South African Policing Union provincial secretary Jabu Mabaso said.

Police officers work in dangerous conditions and lack resources and the support senior managers. 

- TimesLIVE