Families of cops killed in line of duty talk about their pain

03 September 2017 - 14:56 By Nico Gous
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SAPS Police Tape

Nthatise Mogapi‚ 25‚ will one day tell her two-year-old twin boys their father was a hero who served his country.

Constable Baliki Mogapi‚ 32‚ died in the early hours of July 21 last year during an ATM robbery at FNB in Hartbeesfontein in the North West.

Baliki and a colleague responded to the robbery at about 3am. Nthatise said the robbers opened fire. Baliki’s colleague managed to fire a shot‚ but he was hit before firing a round. He died on the scene.

“It came as a shock. I was hurt. I was so broken I could not believe [it]. It was just hurting.”

They were married eight months. He had been a member of the police for seven years.

Thuli Nkosi‚ 33‚ from Newcastle‚ KwaZulu-Natal‚ struggled to find the words to express how she felt after the death of her fiancé‚ Sipho Msibi‚ 34.

“It is very‚ very hard.”

Sipho was also the father of their seven-year-old son‚ Siyabonga.

He died on duty in April last year. He noticed a speeding car in Mayfair‚ Johannesburg. Msibi and his colleague indicated to the car to slow down. When the car stopped on the side of the road‚ the suspects were ordered to get out of their car. They opened fire as they were getting out of the car and Msibi was hit. He had been a policeman for five years.

Mogapi and Nkosi were just two of several family members who gathered at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Sunday for the annual National Commemoration Day to remember police officers killed in the line of duty. Some wailed and others had tears running down their cheeks as they laid wreaths and flowers.

Police Minister Fikile Mbalula said when he became minister of police he was told a trust which helps family members who died on duty was suspended.

“We are going to work very hard to revive that programme to ensure that those kids continue to go to school and continue to realise their dreams as their parents would have wished.”

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa commended Mbalula’s idea.

“It is this that we want to see: A sensitivity that extends towards us as leaders demonstrating that we do indeed care for the families of the men and women who wear the blue uniform.”

Ramaphosa said to the families of police officers who died: “Yours is the greatest love of all‚ to ask not what your country can do for you‚ but to give everything and life of your country.”

Ramaphosa said the commemoration is not only about loss‚ memory and sacrifice‚ but also legacy.

“May you [family members] find solace in knowing your loved ones died heroes in a worthy and noble cause. May their names‚ their deeds and their sacrifices never be forgotten.”l.

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