| 2024/08/23 |
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Media Statement PRETORIA – The South African Police Service (SAPS) will host its annual Commemoration Day to honour and pay tribute to women and men in blue who died in the line of duty between April 2023 to March 2024. As a build up to the Commemoration Day that will be held at the Union Buildings on 01 September 2024, the SAPS will honour 39 members who died during this period. Today we pay tribute to our fallen hero, the late Warrant Officer Sthembiso Mazibuko who died on 17 October 2023. The 40-year-old member was attached to the National Intervention Unit (NIU) within the Division Visible Policing and Operations and had 17 years of service in the organisation at the time of his passing. It was on the 17th October 2023, when the member and his colleagues acted on intelligence information which led them to a house in Ntuzuma C Section, north of Durban, where dangerous wanted suspects were hiding. As they approached the house, they were met with gunfire from the suspects, prompting a shootout between the suspects and the police. The member was fatally shot and pronounced deceased on the scene while his colleague was also wounded and taken to hospital for medical care. Four people, including a most wanted suspect were also fatally wounded. The suspect was wanted in connection with the killing of 12 people. He leaves behind his wife and three children, the youngest being one year old at the time of their father’s passing. Warrant Officer Mazibuko’s name and thirty-eight others will be engraved on the SAPS memorial wall at the Union Buildings on the 1st of September 2024, as a symbol of gratitude from the nation for the sacrifices he made in serving and protecting the people of this country until his last breath. To Warrant Officer Mazibuko, the SAPS flag does not fly because the wind blows it: it flies with the last breath of every police officer who died defending it.
May your soul continue to rest in peace.
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