The Deputy Minister of Police, Cassel Mathale has sent his condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of warrant officer Lindela Mraqisa, who was among the five victims killed in a mass shooting on Saturday in Gugulethu.

A PROTECTOR

Brigadier Vhahangwele Phupheli said the member was attached to the Western Cape's Protection and Security Service (PSS) Division and served as a close protector to Deputy Minister Mathale since 2019. 

Phupheli said the police have since mobilised maximum resources to trace and apprehend those behind the attack and killing of the four men and a woman. 

The deputy minister Mathale described the late member as dedicated, humble and hardworking. 

?The number of police officers killed on and off duty remains a concern for the leadership of the SAPS. We need the whole of society and government to fight this scourge. Mraqisa was a soft spoken, dedicated and focused police officer who was always punctual and professional in his conduct. We hope police will find and bring to book those responsible for his death. My condolences go to his family," said Mathale. 

The Minister of Police , General Bheki Cele and the National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Fannie Masemola will lead a delegation of senior police officers to Cape Town today where they will interact with the investigating team and also visit the bereaved family. The police are appealing to members of the public to assist with information that will lead to the arrest of the perpetrators behind the mass shooting. 

ANOTHER DEATH

Mathale said they will thereafter proceed to the family of another off-duty member who was found killed in Mfuleni on Sunday morning. 

"The 29-year-old police woman was attached to the Samora Machel Police Station. The circumstances surrounding her death are a subject of a police investigation. One suspect has been arrested in connection with her death,"he said.