The South African Police Service (SAPS) has lost 140 officers in the line of duty over the last four years.
“On National Police Day, the SAPS remembers the sacrifices that our men and women in blue have made and continue to make as they provide safety for all who live in South Africa,” the SAPS said in a statement on 27 January, which is National Police Day.
On Thursday, 25 January 2024, more than 100 golf players from various corporate companies across the country came together to pledge and raise funds for the South African Police Education Trust Fund (SAPSET).
According to SAPS, R6.6 million rand was raised and will go towards the educational needs of the children of fallen police officers.
SAPSET currently funds children from Grade RR to the tertiary level.
To date, the fund has assisted 1 078 children, of which 54 have graduated and 146 of them have passed matric and have a National Senior Certificate (NSC).
The management of the SAPS, led by Police Minister General Bheki Cele, expressed gratitude to all the sponsors and donors for their support.
The National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Fannie Masemola, thanked all the men and women in blue for risking their lives daily to keep all people in South Africa safe.
“On this day, we pay gratitude to you, our men and women in blue, who work tirelessly to hunt down dangerous criminals, remove illegal and unlicensed firearms, remove drugs off our streets and work hard to ensure successful convictions in court for perpetrators of crime.”
He encouraged the police members to continue to work hard to rid the country of criminality.
“We urge communities to embrace our police officers and work together with them to stop the killing of our own. From January 2023 to date, 33 police officers were killed on duty and today we are laying a Constable to rest who was run over by a truck while assisting at an accident scene in KwaZulu-Natal. These killings have to stop, and they can only stop if communities take a stand against them,” Masemola added.
