DURBAN - TWO MEN will appear in the Ladysmith Magistrate’s Court on Monday in connection with the murder of an off-duty sergeant from the Ladysmith K9 Unit in an apparent ambush in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday night.
Sergeant Protas Sphiwe Mazibuko, 43, was driving in Steadville when his vehicle was bumped from behind by another vehicle.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker said when Mazibuko got out of the car to investigate he was shot several times at point-blank range and died at the scene. His service pistol and wallet were taken by his attackers before they fled the scene.
Mazibuko had 14 years’ service with the SAPS.
Naicker said police officers from various units within the uThukela District were immediately mobilised to pursue the suspects. Police traced the suspects to E-Section in Ezakheni, near Ladysmith.
Two men, aged 25 and 30, were arrested and the vehicle used in the commission of the crime was seized by police. Naicker said the police officer’s firearm as well as the firearm used by the perpetrators were recovered.
“At this stage, the motive seems to be robbery.”
The men are charged with murder and robbery.
KZN SAPS Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi said criminals who continued to brazenly gun down police officers for their firearms did not belong in society.
“I am very relieved that these two thugs have been arrested. We hope that the criminal justice system will ensure that they are permanently removed from society. We will do everything within our power to ensure that the culprits receive appropriate sentences.”
Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union spokesperson Richard Mamabolo commended police for the swift arrest. However, he said, it will not bring back the lost life of the officer.
“Such incidents are unfortunate, and have been on the rise, with little being done in curbing them. As a union, we are busy with plans to convene a Policing Indaba in the next year to look into the root causal factors. Hopefully this will lead to changes in policies and attitudes that would see communities and police working better together in fighting this scourge.”
In the first three months of this year, 24 police were killed countrywide. Eleven of them were killed on duty while preventing, combating or solving a crime while some were attacked or ambushed while conducting patrols and their official firearms stolen.
The 2021/22 quarter two crime statistics revealed that between July and September this year, 23 SAPS officers were killed in the country. Six were killed in KZN.
The statistics were a serious concern, said KZN violence monitor Mary de Haas. She said there were probably different reasons for off-duty police being killed that could range from a drunken brawl in a tavern, being subjected to a hit for personal reasons, or to steal the police officer’s gun.
“The killing of police members can result from corruption in the SAPS, if guns are not properly stored. Guns go missing in police stations because police themselves collude with criminals which impacts on all of us.”
Daily News