THE SAPS has dedicated the first Sunday of September annually to remembering the men and women in blue who paid the ultimate price to serve and protect all people living in South Africa.
This year's event on Sunday, 3 September commemorated 34 members who died in the line of duty between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023.
During his welcome address, Police Minister, Bheki Cele, congratulated the SAPS operation team that advanced to arrest alleged suspects who were allegedly preparing to carry out a cash-in-transit heist in Makhado, Limpopo and 18 suspects were killed.
"The group was preparing to go and rob the money and they encountered a hail of bullets from suspected criminals. The team responded and unfortunately lives were lost and 18 of the suspects did not win the day. When the dust settled, we did not pick any bodies from the members of South African Police Service," he said.
He added that they were gathered in their collective brief to honor officials who paid the ultimate price during their time of service.
Speaking at the commemoration, President Cyril Ramaphosa said: "This is a sad moment as we pay tribute to the hard-working men and women of the South African Services who lost their lives in the line of duty. Deadly attacks on police officers are sadly once more on the rise."
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He added that the increase of the killing of police officers whether on duty or off duty demonstrated criminals' level of desperation to remove any obstacles in the way of their criminal intent.
He issued a call to SAPS to demonstrate that they can take on criminals and protect South Africans as well as the authority of the state.
"We must all unite and work together to ensure we leave no space for criminals to operate in. The time has come for the police to demonstrate to the South African people that indeed, we can gird our loins and indeed we can take on these criminals. Just like the police did in Limpopo 48 hours ago.
"It is now time to show that the authority of the state cannot be disrespected. It cannot and must not be disregarded. The authority of the state is the authority of the people of South Africa as a whole. We are the people. Therefore, anyone who disrespects and disregards the people of South Africa collectively, under the umbrella of the state, must know that they've crossed the line and we will not allow them to do as they wish and we will not allow them to kill those whose job is to protect and defend the people of South Africa," he said.
