Police captain wounded in Manenberg operation
THE ONSLAUGHT on police and law enforcement officers continued yesterday when police captain Ettiene Conradie was shot in Manenberg, bringing the number of officials to come under attack this week to three.
Police spokesman Colonel Andre Traut confirmed Conradie, 50, and his colleagues had been “conducting a search operation for illegal firearms and drugs in Renoster Walk in Manenberg when they came under attack”. Conradie was shot and wounded.
Traut said the police captain had been taken to hospital where he was in a stable condition.
Police constable Amanda Ladlokova, 33, was shot dead on Tuesday night while her police sergeant colleague had been critically wounded in an apparent ambush by three men in Philippi.
The shootings are the latest in a string of attacks on police and law enforcement officers this year.
A 19-year-old man who had been arrested and charged with Ladlokova’s murder is due to appear in the Athlone Magistrates Court today.
He was arrested on Wednesday and has been charged with murder, attempted murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
The provincial branch of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) welcomed the arrest.
In a statement, Popcru provincial secretary Mncedisi Mbolekwa called on the community yesterday to “protest against police killings with placards when the suspects appear” in court.
“It’s no longer enough to say enough is enough. Let us take action against these senseless killings. We need to petition government to treat killings of police officers as crime against the state,” Mbolekwa said.
At least six other Cape Town police and law enforcement officers have been attacked in the line of duty this year, three fatally.
Mayoral committee member for Safety and Security JP Smith yesterday said he was “delighted” at the arrest of the alleged cop killer.
“These people must know if you aim a firearm or a knife at any one of our officers or the police, there will be consequences.”
Smith added the City’s Special Investigating Unit was working with police to ensure no officer was harmed with there being no form of justice initiated.