Hawks boss declares war on criminals
Slain EC senior cop laid to rest
IF YOU touch a Hawk you will die.” This was the stern warning from Eastern Cape Hawks head Major General Nyameko Nogwanya, who spoke at the funeral of slain senior Hawks investigator Warrant Officer Dalibandla Qokoyi.
“It can’t be business as usual when one of our own is killed,” he told those in attendance, including Police Minister Nathi Nhleko, in Mthozela village, Qumbu on Saturday.
The 59-year-old father of three, who was attached to the Mthatha Organised Crime Unit, was shot and killed on January 11 outside his house in Mthatha, just hours after he had testified in the Tsolo Magistrate’s Court opposing bail in a murder and robbery case.
In a moving eulogy read out during the funeral, his wife Nomsingathi Qokoyi described her late husband as a loving and respectful man who taught her forgiveness and was a unifier in the family.
“You were not just a dad to your children but you were a father. To me and our children life will never be the same.”
The funeral, which attracted hundreds of people including Hawks heads from all nine provinces, was also attended by the national head of the elite crime-fighting unit, Lieutenant General Berning Ntlemeza, and Eastern Cape police commissioner LieutenantGeneral Liziwe Ntshinga.
Mthatha Organised Crime Unit commander Colonel Loyiso Mdingi, who described Qokoyi as his pillar of strength, told Nhleko that he strongly believed his death was planned inside jail and promised to prioritise all the cases he was working on to prove a point that they would not back down as the Hawks.
He also said they would not hesitate to use their state-issued weapons to save their lives.
“We cannot have them for decoration. Criminals are fed and educated in our prisons while his [Qokoyi’s] children have lost a father.”
Nogwanya meanwhile urged Nhleko to go back to parliament and help come up with legislation that would protect their members from persecution.
“We cannot be held at ransom by IPID [the Independent Police Investigative Directorate]. Our colleagues are in jail but when our own is killed there is nothing. It cannot be business as usual when one of our own is killed. You gave us resources but when we use them, we are questioned,” he said adding that they would now fight tooth and nail with criminals. “If you touch a Hawks you will die.” Nogwanya also promised that their members would not rest until they found Qokoyi’s killers and warned that if they managed to catch them and there was crossfire, it would be a case of the survival of the fittest.
“We cannot die at the hands of criminals [and] we have these firearms.”
Ntlemeza expressed his condolences to Qokoyi’s family and promised that the Hawks would remove all illegal firearms from society.
“No member of the Hawks or SAPS will be scared, instead it motivates us. These people [Qokoyi’s killers] will be found,” he added.
Safety and liaison MEC Weziwe Tikana said the killing of a Hawks member trampled on the country’s democracy but urged communities to come forward with information to help track down his killers.
Nhleko also appealed to communities to assist the police with their investigation but later told the media on the sidelines that it was natural that many theories would be bandied about following the incident.
He also revealed that there was a special task team that had been set up to look into Qokoyi’s murder, including combing for clues that might assist in cracking the case.
Qokoyi’s distraught family also called for the killers to come forward.