WATCH | ‘You broke me and my family’: emotional message to killers from slain cop's widow

“Justice won't bring back my husband, so if someone gets a chance to speak to the guy [who killed my husband] they must let him know that I'm broke because of him. I don't have a husband because of him. My child doesn't have a father because of him. Just tell him that,” said Lulamela Breakfast in her home in Langa on Tuesday.

Breakfast had been married to SAPS constable Mninawa Breakfast for four years when she heard the news that he had been killed in the early hours of Sunday morning while on patrol in Bloekombos in Cape Town. Breakfast was the sixth police officer to be murdered in 12 days in SA.

“He loved me and the children very much and he showed this through his status updates on Facebook and WhatsApp. We were always together. He wanted me to be with him wherever he went,” said Lulamela.

Const Breakfast's partner, Sgt Mnakwazo Mdoko, was also killed in the incident.

Mdoko's family said he was a kind man.

“He was always willing to help people. He was also very helpful to disabled people. We did not treat him as a policeman ... we treated him like a resident of Kraaifontein. No-one deserves to be killed like that,” said Jacob Mini, a family friend of Mdoko.

“We live in fear to such an extent, even if you go outside you are worried you might get killed. As residents, let's unite to fight crime and protect our police as well as our community.”

Police minister Bheki Cele visited the families of the two policemen on Tuesday and spoke to journalists about the high incidence of violence against the police.

“They were just patrolling, they were just doing their job to keep the same communities safe,” said Cele. “There is a trend which is developing around the shebeens, because the officers were around the shebeens for compliance, people began to resist and think they can operate outside the law.

“The same thing happened in KZN, where people resisted police checking their compliance — here they did too.

“We have ordered the police to go out and hunt [the people who did this]. Police will have to bring them dead or alive and make sure those people get punished,” he said.

One man, aged 32, has been arrested and will be appearing on March 9 in connection with the double murder.

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