The South African Policing Union (SAPU) has called on Police Minister Fikile Mbalula to convene a national summit on police killings as a matter of extreme urgency.

Sapu general secretary Oscar Skommere said the brutal and merciless killings of six police officials in Engcobo in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday made the call for a national summit an extremely urgent matter.

“We fall short of words to express our dismay and anger at this act of cowardice. We have calling on the government to prioritise the killing of the men and women in blue. Harsh words of condemnation only will not curb the continued killings of our members.”

“It is also clear that the 10- point plan of the then police minister Nathi Mthethwa is not working. It is clear that the criminals have no respect for human life, let alone the government.

“If police officials are butchered like this in a police station, how safe are our people in the streets? We are not crying babies, we can call for an eye for an eye approach. It is just that we are a responsible union that subscribes to the rule of law,” Skommere said.

Skommere said they will run out of patience and called upon Mbalula to act with speed in convening a summit. They have also been calling for the re-establishment of the Murder and Robbery unit to no avail, he added.

“We are not calling for preferential treatment as the police. This unit we are calling for will deal with the alarming murder rate in South Africa. We are ranked number 8 worldwide as it is recorded that 51 people are violently killed in South Africa on a daily basis,” Skommere said.

“Is that alarming murder rate normal in a democratic dispensation?”

Skommere said the swift reaction by national commissioner General Khehla Sitole in establishing a task team with the Hawks was welcomed. It was, however, not good enough.

https://citizen.co.za/news/news-africa/1828769/safrica-police-crime/

For more news your way, follow The Citizen on Facebook and Twitter.