Nine police killers were sentenced to life imprisonment while two others were handed lengthy sentences in the first half of 2019, the SA Police Service said on Monday.
Police spokeswoman Brenda Muridili said the officers were killed between 2012 and 2017.
Muridili said early this month six accused were convicted of killing Eastern Cape warrant officer Mawethu Siganga and an innocent motorist in July 2012 near Mthatha.
She said the six killers were sentenced to life imprisonment each by the Mthatha High Court. They were sentenced to 15 years each for the remaining 37 counts, culminating in a combined 555 years imprisonment. The sentences would not run concurrently.
Two killers of off-duty Eastern Cape warrant officer Z Nyakaza, who was killed in October 2017, were also sentenced. One was handed a life sentence while the other killer was handed a 20-year sentence.
The men involved in the killing of KwaZulu-Natal warrant officer TN Mkhize in 2017 were both handed life sentences.
National police commissioner Khehla Sitole welcomed the sentences.
"I will always call upon our citizens to work together with the police to root out police killers from our communities. No murder of any law-abiding citizens is justifiable and the killing of those mandated by the Constitution of the Republic to ensure safety and security equates to an attack on the State. We welcome any form of admonishment that will serve as a deterrent for those that have ill intentions of killing police officers," said Sitole.
- African News Agency (ANA)
