Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police said that police management must urgently review the current security protocols at police stations to improve security.
Committee chairperson, Francois Beukman, said Thursday that the killing of two policemen at the police station in Koffiefontein in the Free State and the gun attack on a policeman at a Cape Town police station cannot be tolerated and is condemned in the strongest possible terms.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the policemen killed and the injured policeman,” he said.
Free State police spokesperson Brigadier Motantsi Makhele said the bodies of two constables, both aged 32, were found with bullet wounds after they were on duty at the centre.
“The first one, Constable Obert Boitumelo Mekoa, sustained a bullet wound in the head, and the other one, Constable Mzonani David Manjo, sustained two bullet wounds, one in the head and another one at the back.”
Makhele said the bodies were discovered by their colleagues when they came back from a patrol.
“It appears like they were shot by someone or people who might have attacked them in the Community Service Centre. One service pistol believed to belong to one of the deceased members is also missing,” Makhele said.
“A case with two counts of murder and Armed Robbery was registered for further investigation.”
Beukman said that the attacks showed that criminals have no respect for the institutions that are established to uphold law.
He said the Portfolio Committee “is of the view that the budget recommendations of the Committee of 2017 should be implemented as a matter of urgency.
Beukman said these included the installation of CCTV cameras at the community centres of SAPS stations country wide and the the allocation of body cameras and security technology to all frontline visible policing staff at stations.
He said it was also critical that the SAPS Management Intervention Unit reviews the current security protocols at police stations to improve security.
“The Committee will ask the SAPS management to brief it on the implementation of security measures at police stations at the end of July during the Committee’s oversight visit to KwaZulu-Natal,” Beukman said.