Police officer Dumile Thethani’s life was cut short after he was shot and killed in an “ambush” in Nyanga.
|||Cape Town - He was an avid footballer and a passionate police officer. But on Monday evening, Dumile Thethani’s life was cut short when he was shot and killed in an “ambush” in Nyanga.
The news came as a shock to his long-time friend and fellow officer, Zuko Mkentane, who last saw his friend last year.
“It is still sinking in,” he admitted on Tuesday night.
It started as routine crime prevention patrol for Thethani, 38, a provincial flying squad member, and his colleague.
But when the pair stopped at the corner of Zwelitsha and Hlathe roads in the township, to search a couple of pedestrians, they were approached by two men who opened fire on the officers without any warning, said police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk.
Thethani was hit in the head and died, while his wounded colleague was rushed to hospital. Van Wyk said two passers-by were also hit and wounded.
Thethani’s friend, Mkentane, said the officer had left behind a girlfriend and younger brother.
Mkentane first met Thethani in 2003 and he remembered going through police interviews and training with his “brother”.
“We played a lot of football together. He wasn’t serious, always joking around but he loved his job… I will miss him.”
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa joined provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Arno Lamoer and MEC for Community Safety Dan Plato in sending his condolences to Thethani’s family. Thethani is from Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.
“We urge South Africans to rally behind our police officers,” said Mthethwa.
“We can all begin to make a practical declaration by exposing those who kill our officers, and not harbour them.” He added that the killers deserved, and could expect, hefty punishments.
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union also condemned the murder and the prevalence of violent attacks on on-duty police officers in general. The union encouraged Cape Flats residents, who were “in desperate need of the protection offered by the police”, to assist in bringing the perpetrators to book. The union also called on the police to “effect practical solutions” to protect on-duty officers.
Mthethwa, however, said that a number of interventions, including additional training and the mass roll-out of bulletproof vests, had been introduced to protect officers in the line of duty.
But he admitted that police research had shown a “lack of adherence” with regard to the wearing of the vests.
The cluster chairman for the Nyanga Community Policing Forum, Cassiem Christians, has warned that attacks on police officers have become more frequent since gang shootings in the area had increased - particularly in nearby Manenberg.
daneel. knoetze@inl.co.za and kieran.legg@inl.co.za
Cape Argus