Ramaphosa calls for stronger protection of police officers as nation remembers fallen members

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for greater protection of police officers and stronger cooperation between communities and law enforcement as South Africa remembered officers who lost their lives while serving the country.

Speaking at the South African Police Service National Commemoration Day at the Union Buildings in Tshwane on Sunday, Ramaphosa paid tribute to 12 police officers who died in the line of duty during the past financial year.

Nine of the officers were from Gauteng, while North West, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga each lost one member.

Among those remembered was a female officer from Temba Police Station who was a mother of three. Ramaphosa also highlighted the loss suffered by families, including a woman who was pregnant when her husband was killed and a family whose father and husband left behind seven-month-old twins.

“The circumstances of these deaths should concern us deeply,” Ramaphosa said.

He said several officers were killed while working the same shift, responding to business robbery complaints or transporting awaiting-trial prisoners. Others were killed while carrying out routine crime prevention and patrol duties.

The youngest officer remembered was just 25 years old.

Ramaphosa said attacks on police officers should not be viewed simply as attacks on individuals, but as attacks on the rule of law and the constitutional order.

He called on communities to play a bigger role in keeping police officers safe by reporting threats, protecting information and rejecting criminal activity.

“Police safety is a responsibility that falls to all of us,” he said.

Ramaphosa acknowledged that the number of police officers killed in the line of duty has declined significantly in recent years, attributing the progress to operational interventions, police safety initiatives, community partnerships and cooperation between government and the private sector.

However, he stressed that even one police death was one too many.

The SAPS has introduced a Police Safety Action Plan, known as “Think First – Act Safe: Every Call, Every Time”, which focuses on governance, proactive and reactive interventions, police station and infrastructure safety, as well as support and redress.

The President also appealed to the private sector to help support the children left behind by fallen officers.

Since its establishment in 2010, the South African Police Service Education Trust (SAPSET) has supported 2,215 children of fallen officers, with more than R25 million raised through sponsorships.

Ramaphosa said some of the children supported by the trust had gone on to obtain Master's and PhD degrees.

He urged companies to provide sustainable donations and scholarship opportunities to ensure that the children of fallen officers have opportunities to build better futures.

The President also addressed the challenges facing the police service amid intense public scrutiny and revelations emerging from the Judicial Commission of Inquiry.

He said the scrutiny should not paralyse the police service, but instead provide an opportunity for renewal.

“The best response to scrutiny is not defensiveness. It is performance,” Ramaphosa said.

He called for a police service that is competent, disciplined and ethical, saying public trust must be rebuilt “station by station, community by community”.

Ramaphosa said the country owed fallen officers a safer South Africa, their families continued support and police members the systems, leadership, protection and resources needed to perform their duties safely.

“We must act,” he said.

He ended by calling for a South Africa where those who protect the public are themselves protected by government and the communities they serve.