MEC Macie demands 'eye-for-an-eye' justice for cop killers
These were the words of Mpumalanga MEC for community safety, security and liaison Jackie Macie during the funeral of police officer Sgt Lawrence Dumisani Mtshweni, who was shot while responding to a robbery last week.
He died in hospital hours later.
Two men have since been arrested for his murder, while two others were shot dead by police in Eswatini last week. Another suspect shot himself in the head before the police could arrest him.
At the service held at Schoemansdal community hall on Saturday, Macie said: 'There's no hippo's calf that can be devoured by crocodiles and the river settles,' Macie said.
'Let me address comrade Lawrence Dumisani Mtshweni. Thanks, Mtshweni, that you died with your boots on and fought to the end. Sgt Mtshweni died when he was trying to protect the citizens and property of South Africans.
'When we understand the events [leading up] to [his murder], we know that some of the suspects we arrested were released, and they [the suspects] felt that they were in charge.
'The battalion in blue arrests people, but you [the courts] release them. But we are not complaining about the Tonga police station or the court. I'm telling you today, it's not going to happen as long as I'm an MEC.
'I don't believe in the New Testament. When you kill an officer, what are you telling us is [that] if you kill using an axe, then you will face an axe,' Macie said.
He called on the community not to hide criminals.
'We want that [criminals must bring themselves to the cops] before we get them because if we get them first, we don't know what shall happen,' he said.
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