A prayer for fallen comrades and a fistful of ammunition for the late-night patrol
UNBOWED: Members of the Brixton Flying Squad remember murdered colleagues before beginning their 12-hour night shift WITH their hats in their right hand and an R5 assault rifle in their left, they bow their heads in prayer.
‘‘Please monitor your radios. Today is April 1. It’s the first day of the financial year. Maybe we can do better than last year. Please work hard. Call for backup if you need it.”
It is 6pm and the start of the 12-hour night shift for the Brixton Flying Squad.
Shift commander Eric Baloyi issues his warning to the 17 officers about to go out on patrol.
It has been an emotional day — earlier, hundreds of their colleagues paid tribute to two of their fallen, killed in a gun battle on the N3 highway last Sunday.
The two constables, Maishe Mafokoane, 32, and Mthokoziseni Myeza, 35, were killed when robbers shot at them as they approached a suspicious-looking truck parked on the shoulder of the highway.
As they approached the truck, a gang armed with AK47 assault rifles, hidden in the back of the vehicle, opened fire, killing one of them.
The other officer died of his wounds in hospital later that day.
The two constables are among four Gauteng policemen killed in gun battles in only 10 days.
On March 20, Constable Phuthi Mpheroane, 35, was killed in Mooiplaats, Tshwane, when he and a colleague approached a blue Audi A4.
The occupants of the car opened fire on the officers, killing Mpheroane.
On March 24, Constable Malesela Ledwaba was killed in a shoot-out with a dozen robbers after responding to a robbery alert at a bakery near Park Station, Johannesburg.
His killers fled with service pistol.
This is why Baloyi urged his squad to be vigilant. Approach suspects with caution and protect your partner, he told them at the start of the shift.
The flying squad, the dog unit and the tactical response team are the first to respond to crimein-progress alerts — they are the “Alphas” of the police.
‘‘Alpha means ‘crime in progress’,” said Sergeant Tintswano Malukeke, 41.
Malukeke’s partner for the night is Constable Canny Selowa, 35, who wanted to be a soldier but settled for a blue uniform when he failed to make the cut.
It is their last night shift, and
ON THE BEAT: A police officer calls in an incident
his JUST CHECKING: A Brixton Flying Squad patrol stops a motorist for a routine check in a dodgy part of Johannesburg
We didn’t get shot. It was the day after my birthday, and I didn’t want it to be my last
they hope it will be a quiet one.
Malukeke is carrying the R5 this time. They take turns. One R5 between two partners. One searches suspects while the other keeps guard.
“I was in a shoot-out once,” said Selowa.
“I came across an abandoned vehicle in the basement of a building.
“I saw three guys and I just couldn’t pass it up. We had to check it out, in case it was wanted suspects or someone in trouble.
“We approached them and they had guns. They started firing at us and we shot back; we were standing about 10m apart.
“I don’t know how we didn’t get shot. It was the day after my birthday and I didn’t want it to be my last,” he said.
Over the radio, an officer is asking for help.
A hit-and-run. It never stops . . . robbery in progress ... a hijacking . . . rape.
The squad members are deployed to crime hot-spots listed in a thick file compiled by crime intelligence.
‘‘This is our route; we patrol the south,” said Selowa before pulling over a motorist in Turffontein.
‘‘This area has a very big drug problem. So we have to do random searches.”
The motorist is annoyed. His hands are in the air and he shouts: “I didn’t do anything!”
“Sometimes people swear at us and it makes us feel bad,” said Selowa, “but someone has to do this job.”
He was on duty on the Sunday morning on which his colleagues were killed.
“I heard it on the radio. I was in the south but I didn’t go to the scene because I thought I should try and find the suspects instead.”
In the past year, 34 police officers have been killed on duty, 50 while off-duty. Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal have the highest number of police officers killed.
Twenty-three Gauteng officers have been killed in the past year. KwaZulu-Natal lost nine members on duty; 10 off-duty.
Gauteng police spokeswoman Colonel Noxolo Kweza said the police were investigating the possibility that the four murders of officers last month were linked. “An arrest is imminent,” said Kweza.