Wife’s anguish after cop killed
They know that something is wrong, says shocked wife
THE distraught wife of a policeman gunned down while on duty said yesterday she had not yet been able to tell her three small children their father was dead. Detective Constable Bonga Ngcingwana, 35, was killed in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, on Tuesday afternoon.
He was with his 37-year-old partner, a sergeant, when four men in a Silver Toyota Etios jumped out, in the middle of the street, and opened fire on them.
Neither of the policemen was armed at the time.
While details remain sketchy, it has been learnt that the Etios was fitted with false licence plates.
Police said why the plainclothes officers had not been carrying guns would be investigated.
Mount Road cluster commander, Major-General Thembisile Patekile and his management team visited the family yesterday.
Ngcingwana’s wife, Nwabisa, 34, burst into tears when they walked into the house, crying uncontrollably.
Patekile, who prayed with the family, vowed everything possible would be done to track down the culprits.
“We will not sleep until we have them,” he said.
“This was an attack on the state and was designed to put fear into people. We will not tolerate this.
“We have come here today to look you in your eyes and tell you that we are here for you.”
Nwabisa said Ngcingwana had loved his job.
“He had been in the police for 10 years and he loved the job. When he was home, I felt safe,” she said.
“I worried all the time when he went to work.”
Nwabisa said when she arrived at the hospital, she had thought her husband had been wounded and was still alive.
“The doctor called me into the room and told me he did not make it. I was in such shock,” she said.
The couple have three children – aged three, five and 10.
“They keep asking where their father is and when he is coming home,” Nwabisa said. “They know something is wrong.” She said she believed she was pregnant again and had recently told Ngcingwana, who was “so happy”.
Patekile said the two detectives had seen a vehicle swerving in and out of traffic in the Missionvale area and followed it.
They kept three cars between them and the Etios, until the cars in between turned down another road.
The Etios then braked hard and the shooters jumped out and began firing at the detectives. “It happened in the middle of the road, so quickly, they could not call for backup,” Patekile said.
Ngcingwana was shot stomach.
Seconds later, a passing police van was also fired upon.
“The members [in the van] returned fire, forcing the suspects to flee – some on foot and some in the Etios,” he said.
Sources said the licence plates were registered to a car in Gauteng.
“[The owner] confirmed [that the Etios] was not his vehicle. in the
“He was extremely cooperative and offered to share his tracker information or for police to take his car in Gauteng if they wanted,” the official said.
Asked what the detectives had been investigating at the time of the shooting, Patekile said: “There were five dockets with them, they were gathering evidence.”
Asked why the detectives had not been armed, Patekile said that was being investigated.
Just hours after the shooting, K9 unit members shot dead a suspect in Seyisi Street, New Brighton.
Police spokesman Captain Andre Beetge said it had happened at 1.30am.
Beetge said: “The two men split up after seeing the police.
“One allegedly pointed a firearm, prompting police to fire at him. He was fatally wounded,” Beetge said. “The other man, 24, was arrested. “He was identified as a wanted suspect since August last year in a case of theft out of a motor vehicle.”
A gas pistol and stolen items were found on the man who was shot.