“An attack on a police official is an attack on the authority of the State and must never be tolerated,” National SA Police Service (SAPS) Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, said on Thursday.
Masemola shared the sentiments in welcoming the life sentences handed down to the men who killed five police officers in 2018.
The Eastern Cape police officers were gunned down at the Ngcobo Police Station on February 21, 2018.
Warrant Officer Zuko Mbini, 46; Constable Kuhle Mateta, 27; Constable Nkosiphendule Pongco, 32; Constable Sibongiseni Sandlana, 32; and Constable Zuko Nelson Ntsheku, 38, tragically lost their lives.
This week killers Andani Monco, 36; Kwanele Ndlwana, 28; Siphosomzi Tshefu, 29; and Phumzile Mhlatywa, 51, were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Their co-accused Siphesihle Tatsi is currently serving 18 years in prison after pleading guilty in July 2023. He was sentenced to a total of 241 years in jail.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the Mthatha High Court sentenced the men to additional sentences ranging between 25 and 40 years for conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, housebreaking with intent to commit an offence, defeating the ends of justice and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition, committed on and before the massacre.
The convicted killers were members of a cult, known as Seven Angels Ministry Church, which operated from Nyanga village near Ngcobo (formerly known as Engcobo).
Intense police investigations led to the arrest of the men inside the cult’s compound and the Mancoba homestead.
The NPA said the men abandoned bail and chose to conduct their defence during the trial, stating that it was against their religious beliefs to be represented by attorneys.
General Masemola described the Ngcobo police station attack and killing of on-duty police officers at the station as the worst display of disrespect and undermining of the rule of law.
“An attack on a police official is an attack on the authority of the state and must never be tolerated.”
IOL News