While President Jacob Zuma was addressing a sombre audience at the Union Buildings in Pretoria in honour of police officers killed in the line of duty on Sunday, Eastern Cape police were recovering the body of a murdered colleague.
Fort Beaufort visible policing unit member, 35-year-old Sergeant Xola Sowambi, was armed and in full uniform when he was hijacked and killed on the side of the R67 between Fort Beaufort and Seymour on Saturday morning.
The two suspects are deemed armed and dangerous and also wanted in connection with another hijacking incident in Hogsback last Friday.
Sowambi, who was last seen leaving his home on Saturday morning to report for duty, was found by members of the public on the side of the road near a farm on Sunday.
Provincial police spokeswoman Colonel Sibongile Soci said Sowambi’s wallet and service pistol were recovered near his body. Only his blue VW Polo was missing.
“The car was found on Saturday evening in Whittlesea (56km from the scene) when it was stopped by local police,” said Soci.
She said on being stopped two unidentified men fled into a nearby forest.
Sowambi’s murder is being investigated by the Hawks as all dockets regarding police-related killings have been integrated into the unit in the hope of rooting out police killings.
Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said yesterday their investigation was making progress.
He said when police inspected Sowambi’s car in Whittlesea they found a laptop that had been stolen in a previous hijacking incident in Hogsback on Friday afternoon.
“The (Hogsback) vehicle was found smashed and indications are that Sonwabi was killed for his car since the other one was no longer driveable,” Mulaudzi said.
A total of 63 police officers were killed on duty around the country between April 2014 and March 2015 and 14 of those are from the Eastern Cape.
Sowambi joined the police in 2004 where he started his career in Khayelitsha police station in the Western Cape, before being transferred to Fort Beafuort in 2009.
He was a married father of two.
Zuma said the killing of police officers was not only an attack on the men and women in blue, but also an attack on the state itself.
He said all station commanders had been instructed to implement a newly developed tactical response plan to ensure police were protected.
Both Eastern Cape police commissioner Lieutenant-General Celiwe Binta and the acting national head of the Hawks Major-General Mathandazo Ntlemeza sent their condolences to members of the Sowambi family.
Ntlemeza said he had assembled a team of high-level detectives to probe Sowambi’s murder. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
Hawks hunt for killers of policeman
Fort Beaufort visible policing unit member, 35-year-old Sergeant Xola Sowambi, was armed and in full uniform when he was hijacked and killed on the side of the R67 between Fort Beaufort and Seymour on Saturday morning.
The two suspects are deemed armed and dangerous and also wanted in connection with another hijacking incident in Hogsback last Friday.
Sowambi, who was last seen leaving his home on Saturday morning to report for duty, was found by members of the public on the side of the road near a farm on Sunday.
Provincial police spokeswoman Colonel Sibongile Soci said Sowambi’s wallet and service pistol were recovered near his body. Only his blue VW Polo was missing.
“The car was found on Saturday evening in Whittlesea (56km from the scene) when it was stopped by local police,” said Soci.
She said on being stopped two unidentified men fled into a nearby forest.
Sowambi’s murder is being investigated by the Hawks as all dockets regarding police-related killings have been integrated into the unit in the hope of rooting out police killings.
Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said yesterday their investigation was making progress.
He said when police inspected Sowambi’s car in Whittlesea they found a laptop that had been stolen in a previous hijacking incident in Hogsback on Friday afternoon.
“The (Hogsback) vehicle was found smashed and indications are that Sonwabi was killed for his car since the other one was no longer driveable,” Mulaudzi said.
A total of 63 police officers were killed on duty around the country between April 2014 and March 2015 and 14 of those are from the Eastern Cape.
Sowambi joined the police in 2004 where he started his career in Khayelitsha police station in the Western Cape, before being transferred to Fort Beafuort in 2009.
He was a married father of two.
Zuma said the killing of police officers was not only an attack on the men and women in blue, but also an attack on the state itself.
He said all station commanders had been instructed to implement a newly developed tactical response plan to ensure police were protected.
Both Eastern Cape police commissioner Lieutenant-General Celiwe Binta and the acting national head of the Hawks Major-General Mathandazo Ntlemeza sent their condolences to members of the Sowambi family.
Ntlemeza said he had assembled a team of high-level detectives to probe Sowambi’s murder. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
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