Five suspects were shot dead in a shootout with police in Lindelani, Ntuzuma, in February.
Image: Tumi Pakkies/ Independent Newspapers
KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi said more people were dying at the hands of criminals than the number of criminals being killed.
Mkhwanazi said this during a press briefing in Durban on Monday.
In the first nine months of the 2024/25 financial year, 105 suspected murderers, cash-in-transit (CIT) robbers, armed robbers and extortionists were shot and killed when they attempted to kill police officers in 38 shootout incidents.
Additionally, four police officers were killed on duty during the same period. These policemen died during these battles.
Some of the major incidents that made headlines:
Some of the mass murders in KZN in the first nine months of the financial year included:
Elaborating, Mkhwanazi stated that the number of attacks on citizens exceeds those on police officers.
He said, “4,278 people were killed in this province, 4,278 in nine months, and only 105 criminals died”.
“Which means criminals are at war with the citizens.”
Mkhwanazi said during that time, four police officers died, with many of them coming under attack.
“Of the 4,278 citizens that were killed, obviously we’re going to count the four police officers also amongst those, but the reality is there are more people that are dying at the hands of criminals than the criminals are dying,” Mkhwanazi said.
“You can’t be losing so many people and don’t cry when 4,278 people die, but when 105 criminals die, we make noise about it. Something must be wrong in our minds if that’s how we think. We must change how we think.”
Mkhwanazi agreed that everyone had the right to life, but the 'innocent should be protected more than those who cause terror'.
He added they intend to arrest, not kill.
thobeka.ngema@inl.co.za