Calls for cop killings to be declared treason

FOLLOWING an upsurge in police killings in the uMkhanyakude District, communities are calling for such acts to be declared high treason.

This after six policemen in the district have been murdered by criminals, while two more are fighting for their lives.

‘Attacks on the police are attacks on the people. An attack on the Constitution is an attack on the State. Attacks on police should be seen as an act of terrorism,’ said Inkosi Ndabezihle Zikhali at a prayer vigil held in Mbazwana last week.

Echoing Zikhali’s sentiments, uMhlabuyalingana Mayor Solo Mkhombo said the killing of police officers is the highest form of barbarism.

‘Without the police, there is no future, no development and no stability, so we are here to say the police are our guardians.

‘We need to change the values of the communities to respect and work with the police. We need to see them as role models and stop considering criminals as heroes. They are just criminals,’ Mkhombo said.

uMkhanyakude POPCRU Secretary, Andries Mbuyazi, said laws governing the force police relating to their duties were too stringent and must be reviewed.

‘When we are attacked by criminals, it happens in the blink of eye. We do not have time to assess the extent of danger posed by armed suspects before responding. In seconds, the criminal murders the police. We need more leeway to respond accordingly and immediately when under threat,’ he said.

Keynote speaker, KZN Provincial Secretary of Police Services Mvuseni Mnqayi, said under the leadership of MEC Willies Mchunu, the Department of Community Safety and Liaison was lobbying for the government to review laws dealing with attacks on police.

‘In our view the attacks and killing of police officers is tantamount to an uprising against the State. Therefore we would like the government to declare an attack on police as an act of high treason to be punished harshly,’ he said.