A 34-year-old police officer from KaBokweni was killed during a shootout with six armed suspects after he and other SAPS members responded to a business burglary at a tuckshop in the early hours of Friday July 28.
One of the armed suspects (32) was also killed during the shootout.
A provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Selvy Mohlala, said that the officer has been identified as Constable Mzwandile Innocent Mthana, who was a member of the KaBokweni Visible Policing Unit.
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He said that members of the SAPS at KaBokweni responded to a call. A tuckshop in Edwaleni was broken into by armed suspects. Upon their arrival, about six armed men opened fire on the police, who fired back in retaliation. Mthana was shot and killed, as was one of the suspects.
Mohlala said it was later established that the suspects gained entry to the tuckshop by breaking through a wall.
“Preliminary investigations indicate that the suspects managed to get away with cigarettes as well as an undisclosed amount of cash”.
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The provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela, said she and the provincial SAPS management are saddened by the member’s untimely death. She said the police will continue to hunt for his killers and will not leave any stone unturned.
“An attack on police officers will never be tolerated as it is considered a direct attack to the state.”
Manamela warned the suspects that police were hot on their heels and that they would be hunted down and brought to justice.
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The Mpumalanga Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison MEC, Vusi Shongwe, has also sent his condolences to the bereaved family, friends and colleagues of Mthana.
He said he was deeply disturbed by the incident but urged police officers to be relentless in their fight against crime and do so in Mthana’s honour.
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