[The filthy criminals of this country just murder our Police with virtual impunity. Jan]

Two Pretoria police officers have been killed within 24 hours of each other bringing the number of law enforcers shot dead in the city this year to five.

Inspector Riaan Nortje, 38, was gunned down in a Valhalla supermarket on Wednesday night during an armed robbery less than 24 hours after Captain Lesibana Mokoka was murdered at home.

Both men, who served in the police service for nearly 17 years, were off duty at the time of their deaths.

Nortje was a physical instructor at the police college in Pretoria West and Mokoka worked in the Pretoria West Police Station’s human resource department.

‘All that I can tell him is that he has gone to help Jesus’
The first Pretoria police officer to be killed this year was Inspector Modisa Jan Kekane who was shot dead on January 27 by a gang of teenagers during an abortive armed robbery.

Kekane, of the local Crime Combating Unit, had also been off duty.

Constable Celliers Kriek of Atteridgeville police station was walking along Esselen Street with his wife on February 13 when they were attacked by four men. He died while trying to save his wife’s life.

Constable Stella Ramokolo, a Crime Intelligence Unit member, was the third Pretoria policeman to be killed when she was shot dead by her boyfriend while walking to work from her Atteridgeville home.

He later killed himself.

Nortje’s devastated wife, Maudine, broke down in tears on Thursday, saying she did not know what to do.

“Riaan told me he was going shopping and to see friends. By 8pm I knew something was wrong. I could just feel it, but I could not call him because he left his cellphone at home,” she sobbed.

Maudine said that when she heard a car stop she could not bring herself to open the door. “I was so scared.”

“What do I do for our son, Mar-Juan. He wants to know where his father is. All that I can tell him is that he has gone to help Jesus,” she said.

Maudine said one of her husband’s worst fears was that he would die before he could see his son grow up.

“What am I going to do? Who is going to help us?” she asked.

Speaking to the Pretoria News outside their uncle’s flat in Soutter Street, Mokoka’s nephews said they were stunned by the killing.

“Nothing we say or do is going to bring him back. No matter how hard we pray he will never be with us again. We are just going to have to somehow carry on with our lives,” said one of his nephews.

None of them wanted to be named for fear that the killers would find out where they stayed.

Police investigating Mokoka’s murder believe that he may have been killed after providing information to police which led to the arrest of several car thieves.

Police spokesperson Captain Piletji Sebola said an intensive investigation had been launched.

“We are urging anyone with information to contact the Serious and Violent Crimes Unit on (012) 334 4420.

Members of the police who have died in the line of duty will be honoured at the weekend.

The police will host the annual SAPS Commemoration Day service at the SAPS Memorial at the Union Buildings. Officers who died while on duty during 2003 will be remembered and honoured by their colleagues and loved ones.

Wreaths will be laid by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula and his deputy Susan Shabangu. The public can also attend the service at 10am.

This article was originally published on page 2 of The Pretoria News on May 07, 2004

Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?index.php?clic…/p>