Police National Commissioner General Bheki Cele on Saturday criticised the media for not covering the funeral service of a police constable killed in Katlehong last week.
Cele said he was besieged by the media when he visited the family of Andries Tatane, who died after being shot allegedly by police in Ficksburg two weeks ago.
Cele’s office insisted on Thursday that recent reports of police brutality were isolated incidents.
“It will be important for us to treat those as isolated incidents instead of bringing them into one issue and cloud the matter around the issue of police brutality,” his spokesperson, Major General Nonkululeko Mbatha, told South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news.
“We cannot obviously deny the fact that in some instances our members act beyond what is expected, which is why … the ICD [Independent Complaints Directorate] will take the process forward.
“In all these examples there are investigations under way,” she added.
In another incident, Jeanette Odendaal (45) was allegedly shot and killed by a Sergeant Manape Phineas Kgoale (38) outside the Kempton Park police station after she reportedly crashed into a stationary police vehicle on Tuesday evening.
Kgoale appeared in court on Friday, and his case was postponed to May 4 for a bail application.
Cele was speaking at the funeral of Constable Fihliwe Mavis Bengeza, who was shot while responding to an ATM bombing in Zonkizizwe in Katlehong.
Bengeza (25) died in hospital after she was shot in the face.
Her colleague, Constable Sihle Mbatha (27) was shot in the leg.
Cele said Bengeza’s eight-year-old daughter would benefit from the police trust fund, which provides for children of police officers who die in the line of duty.
Meanwhile, eight policemen accused of killing Tatane were refused bail in the Ficksburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
The case was postponed to June for further investigation. – Sapa