A 34-year-old police officer from KaBokweni in the Ehlanzeni District of Mpumalanga was killed during a shootout with six armed suspects after he and other SAPS members responded to a business burglary at a tuckshop in the early hours of yesterday.

One of the armed suspects (32) was also killed during the shootout.

Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala says the officer has been identified as Constable Mzwandile Innocent Mthana who was a member of the KaBokweni Visible Policing Unit.

He explains that members of the SAPS at KaBokweni responded to a call after a tuckshop in Edwaleni was broken into by armed suspects.

Upon their arrival, about six armed men opened fire on the police, who fired back in retaliation. Mthana was shot and killed, as was one of the suspects.

Mohlala says it was later established that the suspects gained entry to the tuckshop by breaking through a wall.

“Preliminary investigations indicate that the suspects managed to get away with cigarettes as well as an undisclosed amount of cash.”

The provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela, says she and the provincial SAPS management are saddened by the member’s untimely death. She adds that police will continue to hunt for his killers and will not leave any stone unturned.

“An attack on police officers will never be tolerated as it is considered a direct attack on the state.”

Manamela warns the suspects that police are hot on their heels and that they would be hunted down and brought to justice.

The Mpumalanga Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison MEC, Vusi Shongwe, has also sent his condolences to the bereaved family, friends and colleagues of Mthana.

He said he was deeply disturbed by the incident but urged police officers to be relentless in their fight against crime and do so in Mthana’s honour.