Cape Town - The wife of slain police officer, Mninawa Breakfast, from Langa pleaded with police management and Police Minister Bheki Cele to be transferred back home to the Eastern Cape due to her fear of living alone.
Lulame Breakfast, who serves as a student constable at Langa police station, lost her husband after he and a colleague Mnakwazo Mdoko (46) were allegedly ambushed by a group of suspects while on patrol duties in Kraaifontein on Sunday, with one of their cellphones and their official firearms stolen.
When Cele, and the police management visited the families of the two officers yesterday, Breakfast told them she was no longer feeling safe in the Western Cape after the death of her husband.
She said her wish was to leave the province because she did not want to die like her husband and leave her two children with no parents.
Sipho Breakfast, Mninawa’s brother, said he was angry with the way the police management and the ministers were treating them.
"I would appreciate that when they sit in the Parliament they should look at the issue of police killings and gender-based violence. This happens every day, and the minister always travels to these families for the same thing over and over, though he has powers to come up with strategies," he said.
Cele, who instructed the provincial police management to look into the matter and Breakfast's request to be transferred to the Eastern Cape, said they have listened to the pain of the family especially the brother and the mother of the wife.
"Their pain is the pain we share, although it can't be an equal pain. We hear the call that has been made by the brother for the state to be more protective of members of the police, and to be more harsher and make sure that the victims of the violence are listened to.”
Nozipho Mdoko, the pregnant widow of Mnakwazo Mdoko, also shared her experience of when she received the news, saying that first thought it was gangsters who knocked on her door on Sunday.
“It was around 3pm on Sunday when the police officers arrived and told me the sad news. I was alone...when I heard the knock I thought it was the tsotsi’s or whatever because of the time. I was expecting (Mnakwazo) at 5pm.
Video: Henk Kruger/African News Agency (ANA)
“When I opened the door, I saw one policeman and I was so shocked, and when I looked at the gate, there were so many police officers at the gate, and I was so shocked.”
“I’m so heartbroken, I feel so empty because we were just married in June last year, and (now) I’m six months pregnant expecting his child,” Nozipho said.
“Part of me is gone.”
Soon after the officers were killed, the police and the Hawks launched a 72-hour activation plan to arrest the suspects, who they arrested in Mandela Park, Khayelitsha, on the same day.
Cele said the police had to collect about four people for questioning, of which only one has been arrested, saying the one had the cellphone of the officer and blood on his T-shirt.
The suspect, Mxoleleni Sikhala, 32, briefly appeared in the Blue Down’s Magistrate’s Court yesterday, and the case was postponed to next Tuesday.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the case against Sikhala has been postponed for bail information and for an attorney for the accused to be appointed.
Video: Henk Kruger/African News Agency (ANA)
Ntabazalila said Sikhala was charged with two counts of murder, attempted murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances (two firearms, 45 rounds of 9mm bullets and a cellphone).
The community led by the Community Policing Forum (CPF) protested outside the court, demanding justice for the officers.
Kraaifontein CPF deputy chairperson, Nyanisile Tafu, said they wanted to send a strong message to the judge that there is no place for police killers in their community.
"We want to make sure the accused does not get bail, and we want to also make sure the court sees the community of Kraaifontein is united," said Tafu.
Cape Argus