The efforts of the South African police were not appreciated by the people they served, while foreign countries realised the value of the services they provided, national police commissioner Bheki Cele said on Sunday.
He was speaking at the funeral of Constable Noluthando Zakwe, 25, and her fiancé, police clerk S’bahle Buthelezi, 24, at Greenwood Park, Durban.
The pair were shot and killed in Zakwe’s driveway a week ago.
Police arrested Zwelihle Gumede, 32, a cousin of Buthelezi, in connection with the murders last week.
Zakwe, who was seven months pregnant, and Buthelezi were expected to marry later this year.
Cele told the mourners he was tired of burying police officers.
“My spirit is becoming tired; I cannot bear this any more,” he said. “In this past week I have been at memorial services and funeral services of police officers. Just yesterday (Saturday), Captain Mervin Reddy, a policeman in Pinetown, was buried and a few weeks ago it was a policewoman in Gauteng.”
Reddy, of the crime intelligence unit, was shot and killed in the driveway of his Newlands West home on Friday. His cellphone, gun and vehicle were taken. No arrests have been made.
Cele said the deaths of 25 officers since the beginning of this year was a “crisis”.
He said the past three weeks had been difficult for police because they had come under attack from society and the media for the death of Ficksburg teacher Andries Tatane, which he labelled a “mistake”.
Tatane was shot with rubber bullets and beaten by riot police during a service protest at Ficksburg last month.
“We are being tested. South Africans do not appreciate us … they do not know that we are gold,” Cele said.
He said South Africans did not know that about 2 000 local police officers would be going to Equatorial Guinea to assist with the African Union Summit next month and had also been asked to share their skills with Brazil, hosts of the 2014 World Cup.
“Our police are only appreciated outside of the country and not at home. Here we are being persecuted,” said the commissioner. - The Mercury