A SENIOR police officer with more than 30 years’ experience in the force was gunned down outside her Elliotdale home on Tuesday night.
Police said Lieutenant-Colonel Nomalizo Dukumbane had returned from work just after 7pm when two men appeared behind her and opened fire on her, killing her instantly.
Provincial police spokeswoman Brigadier Marinda Mills said the 53-year-old commander had died on the doorstep of her house situated in Main Street.
Members of the public spotted two unidentified men fleeing the scene on foot moments after the shots rang out.
Mills said the motive of the killing was not known at this stage and no one had been arrested.
Dukumbane is the third Eastern Cape police officer to be killed in the last three weeks.
The first to die was Dukumbane’s colleague Warrant Officer Rodges Sithelo who was gunned down while responding to a business robbery in an Elliotdale store two weeks ago.
Cofimvaba Constable Tandile Mlenga died in a hail of bullets in the Joe Slovo informal settlement last week while pursuing armed robbery suspects.
Most of the suspects in these cases are still at large.
National police commissioner General Riah Phiyega yesterday encouraged police officers to stand firm.
“Although this senseless killing has left a heartbroken family and devastated colleagues, the SAPS will not allow this sacrifice to be in vain,” she said.
“We encourage the members of the SAPS and especially the members of Elliotdale police station not to be despondent but to remain vigilant and dedicated to their calling as police officials,” said Phiyega.
Provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Celiwe Binta sent her condolences yesterday.
“It is wrong to take any human life and it is wrong to steal a policeman or policewoman away from his or her loved ones.
“It is unacceptable to rob a community of their protector therefore it can never be okay to gun down a man or woman in blue,” she said
Mills said a task team of “our best detectives” from the Hawks, Crime Prevention and Crime Intelligence Unit had been tasked with investigating the murder.
“Forensic experts from Pretoria joined local crime scene investigators that night in order to obtain and secure all possible evidence,” Mills said.
Dukumbane assumed her position as station commander in 2009. Only last week she buried colleague Sithelo.
Chairman of the Elliotdale Community Policing Forum (CPF) Gladstone Fojile said the murder had shocked the officers in the station.
“She was head of the house .
“How do you think the officers feel? They are shocked because they see that if this thing can happen to their station commander it can also happen to them,” Fojile said.
He said the CPF would remember Dukumbane as a determined leader who had command and control over her station.
“She has done a lot of work in the past five years and her officers have been kept on their toes,” said Fojile.
Mbhashe municipality mayor Nonceba Mfecane also expressed shock at the killing saying the Eastern Cape police had lost an officer with vision.
“More police need to be deployed to solve this murder and the many other murders plaguing our small town,” said the mayor. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
Top EC cop shot dead near home
Police said Lieutenant-Colonel Nomalizo Dukumbane had returned from work just after 7pm when two men appeared behind her and opened fire on her, killing her instantly.
Provincial police spokeswoman Brigadier Marinda Mills said the 53-year-old commander had died on the doorstep of her house situated in Main Street.
Members of the public spotted two unidentified men fleeing the scene on foot moments after the shots rang out.
Mills said the motive of the killing was not known at this stage and no one had been arrested.
Dukumbane is the third Eastern Cape police officer to be killed in the last three weeks.
The first to die was Dukumbane’s colleague Warrant Officer Rodges Sithelo who was gunned down while responding to a business robbery in an Elliotdale store two weeks ago.
Cofimvaba Constable Tandile Mlenga died in a hail of bullets in the Joe Slovo informal settlement last week while pursuing armed robbery suspects.
Most of the suspects in these cases are still at large.
National police commissioner General Riah Phiyega yesterday encouraged police officers to stand firm.
“Although this senseless killing has left a heartbroken family and devastated colleagues, the SAPS will not allow this sacrifice to be in vain,” she said.
“We encourage the members of the SAPS and especially the members of Elliotdale police station not to be despondent but to remain vigilant and dedicated to their calling as police officials,” said Phiyega.
Provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Celiwe Binta sent her condolences yesterday.
“It is wrong to take any human life and it is wrong to steal a policeman or policewoman away from his or her loved ones.
“It is unacceptable to rob a community of their protector therefore it can never be okay to gun down a man or woman in blue,” she said
Mills said a task team of “our best detectives” from the Hawks, Crime Prevention and Crime Intelligence Unit had been tasked with investigating the murder.
“Forensic experts from Pretoria joined local crime scene investigators that night in order to obtain and secure all possible evidence,” Mills said.
Dukumbane assumed her position as station commander in 2009. Only last week she buried colleague Sithelo.
Chairman of the Elliotdale Community Policing Forum (CPF) Gladstone Fojile said the murder had shocked the officers in the station.
“She was head of the house .
“How do you think the officers feel? They are shocked because they see that if this thing can happen to their station commander it can also happen to them,” Fojile said.
He said the CPF would remember Dukumbane as a determined leader who had command and control over her station.
“She has done a lot of work in the past five years and her officers have been kept on their toes,” said Fojile.
Mbhashe municipality mayor Nonceba Mfecane also expressed shock at the killing saying the Eastern Cape police had lost an officer with vision.
“More police need to be deployed to solve this murder and the many other murders plaguing our small town,” said the mayor. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
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