Police Minister Bheki Cele says he has discussed concerns over the safety of police officers with President Cyril Ramaphosa and National Police Commissioner Khehla Sithole.
Cele has visited the family of slain officer Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear of the Western Cape.
Kinnear, a senior investigator in the Anti-Gang Unit, was gunned down near his Bishop Lavis home on the Cape Flats on Friday. He was shot several times in his car.
Kinnear had investigated several high-profile gang-related crime cases, including the murder of prominent Cape Town lawyer Pete Mihalik, and the extortion case of controversial businessman, Nafiz Modack.
In 2019, 24-hour security was placed outside his home after he received death threats.
On Thursday, a 43-year-old off duty Police Sergeant Thabile Mapoma was shot dead in his driveway in Khayelitsha on the Cape Flats. The motive for the killing is unknown.
Cele also called for an immediate investigation into why the protection service assigned to Kinnear had been withdrawn.
“It’s clear that we have lost a good man. We have been following the story. I was briefed this morning (Saturday) as the leadership of the SAPS, both management and the ministry political wing. Yesterday, I did speak to the President about the matter here, that issues are serious. Moving from here, I’ll go back to the President himself and the National Commissioner. In the next 24 hours, I will sit down with the National Commissioner to say go down there and find out exactly what are the facts.”
Cele says there is an urgent need to protect the police against attacks by criminals. He says police work is not easy and they too need protection. He’s called on the community to condemn continuing police killings, especially in the Western Cape.
Bheki Cele visits home of the slain anti-gangsterism investigator Charl Kinnear:
