/ 31 December 2015

Hunt police killers like dogs – Gauteng MEC

One thousand cops have been arrested for crime since 2010.
One thousand cops have been arrested for crime since 2010.

Police killers must be hunted like dogs, Gauteng Community Safety MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane said on Wednesday while visiting the family of a policeman who was killed over the weekend.

“Anyone who kills our officers must be hunted down like dogs. Let us deal with them before they kill us,” she told family members and colleagues of the late Captain Kenneth Poortman.

“Anyone who kills officers must be terrorised. We can’t just leave them.”

An angry Nkosi-Malobane told those who had gathered for the prayer service that she was tired of going to families on a weekly basis to pay her condolences.

“I have no words. How do I go out and explain to people that I have officers who perish every week at the hands of… a bunch of nobodies? Today I’m angry. This is rubbish,” she said.

Emotions were high as she spoke, with the slain officer’s daughters weeping uncontrollably. The eldest, Kim, had to be taken inside the house while his widow, Sergeant Ann Poortman, consoled the second, Cassidy. 

The body of Poortman, 47, was discovered on the Mabopane highway in Gauteng. It is believed he was hijacked while he was off-duty and in his private car. He had stab wounds and his firearm was missing.

Two people have been arrested in connection with the crime and Poortman’s car and gun were recovered. They appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court where the case was postponed to January 5.

Nkosi-Malobane called on officers to protect themselves. She also called on South Africans not to be too quick to judge police when they used their guns.

“When Bheki [Cele, former police commissioner] said when a person threatens to kill you, don’t shoot their knees or hands, there was a big outcry. What must we do? [If] anyone threatens your life, do what is supposed to be done. Whether it’s a knife or gun, you know what it is you are trained for, do it,” she said.

Nkosi-Malobane also lashed out at the bureaucracies within the South African Police Services that prevented the families of officers killed in the line of duty from getting what was due to them, compounding their stress and burdens.

“Please understand that these families are going through a tough time and we can’t be adding to that.

“I have spoken to the widows and they have told me of the difficulties they encounter in accessing the [the police bursary fund for children of officers killed on duty]. It is our duty to ensure we ease their pain,” she said. – News24