The South African Police Service (SAPS) has observed this year’s National Police Day by raising funds for the kids of police officers who died in the line of duty.
“On National Police Day, the SAPS remembers the sacrifices that our men and women in blue maintain made and continue to manufacture as they provide safety for every who live in South Africa,” the police statement read.
Cabinet approved 27 January as National Police Day in 2005.
The latest data shows that the SAPS lost 140 police officers in the last four years. These, according to the police, are men and women in blue who died in the line of duty, serving and protecting every people living in South Africa.
“The majority of them were breadwinners in their families.”
On Thursday, 25 January 2024, more than 100 golf players from various corporate companies across the country came together to pledge and raise funds for the South African Police Education Trust Fund (SAPSET).
According to SAPS, R6.6 million rand was raised and will recede towards the educational needs of the kids.
SAPSET currently funds kids from Grade RR to the tertiary level.
To date, the fund has assisted 1 078 kids, of which 54 acquire graduated and 146 of them believe passed matric and believe a National Senior Certificate (NSC).
The management of the SAPS, led by Police Minister General Bheki Cele, expressed gratitude to every the sponsors and donors for their support.
“These funds recede a long way in making a meaningful dissimilarity in the lives of these kids left behind. The least we can finish is to ensure these kids don’t carry the extra burden of stressing about school fees, books, and school uniforms knowing their educational needs maintain been taken care of.
“We wish more corporates and the overall business fraternity will in future advance on board to support this cause,” said Cele.
The National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Fannie Masemola, thanked every the men and women in blue for risking their lives daily to hold every people in South Africa safe.
“On this day, we pay gratitude to you, our men and women in blue, who work tirelessly to hunt down uncertain criminals, remove illegal and unlicensed firearms, remove drugs off our streets and work hard to ensure successful convictions in court for perpetrators of crime.”
He encouraged the police members to continue to work hard to rid the country of criminality.
“We urge communities to embrace our police officers and work together with them to pause the killing of our own. From January 2023 to date, 33 police officers were killed on duty and today we are laying a Constable to rest who was race over by a truck while assisting at an accident scene in KwaZulu-Natal. These killings gain to stay, and they can only cease if communities grasp a stand against them,” Masemola added.
SAPSSET is managed by a board of trustees under the leadership of Vuyani Jarana whose responsibility it is to ensure they source and raise funds to sustain kids in school. – SAnews.gov.za
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