News24 reported on Friday that another police officer had been shot dead, this time in Ladanna outside Polokwane.  Constable Petrus Gerhardus de Lange, 30, was on duty on Thursday night when he was accosted by unknown men in two vehicles.  

He was in a vehicle observing trucks at a parking station for possible drug dealings when the suspects started shooting at him and a community policing forum (CPF) member who was accompanying him.  The two returned fire.  De Lange was hit and died from his injuries on the way to hospital.  The CPF member was unharmed.  The motive for the killing is unknown.  National police commissioner General Khehla Sitole condemned the killing and ordered that a 72-hour activation plan be mobilised to identify and arrest those responsible.  "We have lost 42 police officers at the hands of criminals since the start of this financial year alone," Sitole indicated.  Eighteen of the officers were killed while on duty and the remaining 24 were killed off-duty.

• Read the original of this report by Pelane Phakgadi at News24

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