News24 reports that the SA Policing Union (SAPU) has called on the government and the SA Police Service (SAPS) to declare the killing of officers treason.

The call came after an off-duty Gugulethu police constable was shot dead in Delft, Cape Town, on Sunday morning. SAPU spokesperson Lesiba Thobakgale said the only way to deter criminals from targeting officers was to declare the killing of cops treason. He explained: “We are taking police killings seriously, but government and the SAPS are not. We want President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare the killing of a police officer as treason, because it is a crime against the state. The sentencing should be a harsher one. Without the president declaring it as treason, it will just continue to get worse.” Thobakgale added it was worrying that officers were being targeted while they were on and off duty. The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) said the killings had become a national crisis and drastic measures needed to be put in place, especially in the Western Cape. Popcru said it would urgently engage SAPS management because "this can no longer keep happening", and that "plans must be put into place to stop these killings". At least 27 police officers have been killed, either on duty or off duty, across the country in the first three months of the year, a police ministry spokesperson indicated.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tebogo Monama & Lisalee Solomons at News24

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page