Emotional scenes as officers, family visit site where JMPD cops were killed

It was an emotional sight as two Johannesburg Metro Police officers collapsed from grief on Thursday as they visited the scene where their colleagues were crushed‚ allegedly by a drunken driver‚ at a roadblock on Monday.

As their colleagues blasted out gospel songs on their brass instruments‚ the officers were attended to by paramedics on the scene who moved them from the sight.

It was an equally emotional sight of despair for the families of the two dead officers‚ Sophie Ngoasheng and Winnie Mokgolo‚ who sat on chairs just metres away from two silver crosses which had been hammered to the ground in remembrance of the two.

Some of the families wept as they were handed flowers and one by one‚ they walked to the crosses to lay the flowers.

Others struggled to walk back as they held onto each other‚ weeping.

Scattered around them were pieces of debris from the numerous vehicles which were involved in the crash that claimed the officers’ lives on Monday.

Following a wreath laying ceremony at the scene‚ the families of the officers knelt down at the scene and called on their spirits to follow them home.

Each of the family members then took branches‚ representative of the late officers‚ and carried them back home. Mokgolo's aunt Gloria said the 35-year-old was a single mother of three children‚ the youngest being just five.

They were yet to figure out who would take care of the children.

Andrew Damari‚ who had two children with Ngoasheng‚ a 12-year-old and a seven-year-old‚ said they were distraught.

The children are currently undergoing counselling to deal with their trauma.

The children were emotional as they sat amongst family members.

Mokgolo's aunt‚ Gloria‚ issued a warning to drunken drivers.

"As they always say‚ don't drink and drive. Those who do it must change their ways because they are killing us‚" she said.

Meanwhile‚ MMC for safety‚ Michael Sun said the JMPD was doing all it could to ensure better safety of traffic officers.

"One is the body light project which will ensure that our officers are always visible‚ especially at night‚" said Sun.