PRETORIA - Twelve South African Police Service members lost their lives in the line of duty between April 2025 and March 2026.
Their sacrifice was remembered as President Cyril Ramaphosa joined the families, friends and colleagues at a memorial service in Pretoria.
The ceremony took place at the SAPS Memorial Site at the Union Buildings.
Acting Police Commissioner, Puleng Dimpane, said 11 of them have already been convicted.
"This is a priority crime for us. It is investigated by the DPCI over the past 12 months. Over 20 suspects were arrested and over 11 actually were convicted. So indeed, and they do get a harsher sentence. And we pray that as and when we convict them, they get the harshest punishment in this regard because it is unacceptable that our police are being murdered while they protect the society.
“We have four provinces that are actually very problematic when it comes to highest levels of crimes tells us that there is so much criminality in Gauteng. It tells us that we need to revisit our plans, our strategies when it comes to Gauteng, but not only in Gauteng.
“So it tells us that we have problems and it tells us that our members in Gauteng must be vigilant, but not only in Gauteng but across the country, they must look after each other and ensure that they are vigilant at all times."