Cape Town - Police have made breakthrough in the double murder of two on duty police officers in Kraaifontein.
Nine suspects were arrested for the possession of unlicensed firearms in Khayelitsha, two of which were positively identified as belonging to the two dead police officers.
Police Minister Bheki Cele said: “This breakthrough is a result of combined efforts of the Hawks together with Crime Intelligence, Flying Squad and the Tactical Response teams is paying off and I am encouraged that the SAPS in the province has taken up the call to find the police killers dead or alive.”
The grieving widow of one of the officers has refused to quit the police force but wants to be transferred out of South Africa’s murder capital.
Constable Lulamela Breakfast’s husband, Mninawa Breakfast, was shot dead alongside his colleague Sergeant Mnakwazo Mdoko in Kraaifontein while on duty in what is believed to have been an ambush.
Lying on a mattress, as it is expected in Xhosa culture for a widow who just lost her husband ahead of the funeral, she said all she wants is to be moved from the Western Cape.
“I will not stop being in the police force, I just want to be transferred to the Eastern Cape because we are getting killed more here. It has become a trend for us to be killed,’’ she said.
She said she asked the Minister of Police Bheki Cele to organise a transfer for her when he came to visit.
Breakfast, who is stationed at the Langa Police Station, said she will remain in the police in memory of her husband who is also the one who encouraged her to join them.
She said she has only been in the police for a year and her husband organised everything for her to join the police service.
She said she doesn’t feel safe now that her husband is gone and she is worried for her two children, a 13-year-old boy and 10-year-old girl.
“I’m fearing for my children’s lives and mine because once criminals see you wearing our uniform, they target you hoping to get your work gun,” she said.
Breakfast said she will miss everything about her husband because he always made sure they were all okay and did all he can for them.
She said even though they were stationed at different police stations she was used to being with him because when he was at work, she knew he would come back home after work.
“He was a very friendly person, and it will never be the same without him,” she said.
Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said Mxoleleni Sokhahla is accused of killing the officers and appeared in Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court and his case was postponed to March 9 for formal bail application.
She said he is facing two counts of murder and one of attempted murder after it was discovered that a 25-year-old woman, a civilian, was also shot during the incident and he remains in custody.
According to the Hawks, during the last quarter of 2020, seven cases of police murders have been reported, and two arrests have been made while five are under investigation in the province.
Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said they are concerned about the killing of police because it is a trend that continues to grow.
He said they have engaged with the minister about the killings to see if they can come up with solutions.
Mamabolo said police are killed either for their firearms arms or the nature of the case they will be working on.
He added that crime is not just a police matter but communities also need to work with them.
Weekend Argus