‘Criminals putting cops to the test’
MEC concerned about police officers being provoked by killers
POLICE officers are increasingly being provoked by criminals who target and kill them, says Gauteng Community Safety MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane.
The MEC yesterday visited the family of Constable Ronald Baloyi, one of two police officers who were shot and killed over the weekend.
“These criminals are now provoking police officers, who are innocent and have done nothing wrong. Police officers are working hard and have been trained not only to protect their communities but themselves as well,” Nkosi-Malobane said.
Baloyi, who was stationed at Laudium police station, was gunned down in Atteridgeville, near Pretoria, on Friday night.
He was running errands and preparing for his wife’s surprise baby shower. She is seven months pregnant with twins.
The police are fighting back, with three suspects arrested in connection with the attacks on their colleagues since Friday.
A male and a female suspect have been arrested in connection Baloyi’s murder, while a third is still at large.
In Joburg yesterday, a deadly confrontation took place in Jeppestown between the police and two men suspected of killing a Hillbrow officer, Warrant Officer Moses Boipelo Mosekwa, 47.
During the shootout, one of the suspects was killed, while the other was arrested.
Police spokeswoman Brigadier Mashadi Selepe said the firearm stolen from Mosekwa when he was gunned down on Saturday was seized.
Mosekwa’s partner was shot and wounded while the pair were patrolling the troubled inner-city region.
The officers had been approached by a woman who told them two men had robbed her. They confronted the men, who refused to be searched, and then shot at the policemen.
Nkosi-Malobane suggested that some criminals were being ruthless against the considerate police officers.
“If Baloyi was an unruly police officer, he would have shot them first, but he didn’t, and that is what hurts because he was a good officer and a family man,” she said.
Nkosi-Malobane said the SAPS was grateful to communities who were helping them weed out criminals involved in police killings as they had made arrests for recent murders.
“All the suspects in the murder cases (including Hillbrow) have been arrested and are behind bars. For this case, police were able to trace the male suspect through his girlfriend’s cellphone. We are still investigating the whereabouts of the third suspect, who has the gun,” she said.
Inside the one-room structure the couple were renting in Saulsville, a visibly distressed Patricia Baloyi sat with her eight-year-old daughter Lucia.
Nkosi-Malobane told her that the police were working tirelessly to bring her husband’s murderers to justice.
The brother of the slain officer, Aubrey Baloyi, said he and his family were shattered by the murder but were finding solace in the fact that arrests had been made.
“We are hurt because Ronald has a family and has two children on the way. The support that has been shown to us has also helped us because it shows that we have not been abandoned by the government,” Aubrey said.
Nkosi-Malobane said Baloyi’s children would be assisted with their education through the SAPS’s education trust, while Patricia would receive counselling.