The Portfolio Committee on Police has urged the incoming Police Minister Bheki Cele to prioritise and strengthen the safety of police officers and police stations across the country.
The committee has committed to working closely with the Minister to find solutions to these attacks on police officers.
“The first priority for the incoming Minister is to put in place strategies to deal with the high murder rate of police officers.
"The Ngcobo attack and all killings of police officers is unacceptable. It is totally unacceptable that the symbol of the state can be attacked in this manner. It is time for South Africans to say: ‘No more’,” committee chairperson Francois Beukman said on Tuesday.
Beukman was speaking during the memorial of five officers who were brutally killed while on duty in Ngcobo, in the Eastern Cape, last week.
The service, which is also attended by National police commissioner, General Khehla Sitole, is also mourning the death of three other police officers who died in a crash near Ngcobo on Monday night.
Beukman said there is a need to refocus policing towards intelligence-driven policing.
The collaboration with communities to share information as a way to prevent crime must also be strengthened.
He also called on communities to embrace and protect police officers in order to effectively fight crime.
“A collaboration between the police and society in general is necessary if police are to fight crime effectively and if communities are to live in a safer environment. We call on communities to protect police by sharing information.
“Police should not be on their own.” - SAnews.gov.za
