Cop gunned down for firearm was due to retire next year

An Eastern Cape municipal councillor, whose policeman brother was gunned down in cold blood on Monday, says his killing comes at a time when the whole country is faced with a dire shortage of police and rising levels of crime.

His brother, who had been with the police since 1985, was due to retire in April 2025.

Warrant Officer Khangelani Nomatiti, 59, was gunned down in the Ngqeleni CBD, a few metres from the police station where he worked. His service pistol was stolen.

He will be buried on October 12 at Zakha village in the Nkuamandeni administrative area, his brother, Andile, said.

Andile  is a ward 24 councillor in the Nyandeni local municipality.

“There are too many illegal firearms circulating in the country, and all are in the wrong hands.

“The police minister, Senzo Mchunu, national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola, provincial commissioner Major-General Nomthetheleli Mene and all law enforcement agencies must remove all illegal firearms and arrest those found possessing them.

“They killed my brother for a gun — to them having a gun is more important than a human life.

“Spilling the blood of a policeman, killing a father, husband and provider means nothing to the criminals, as long as they have access to a gun.”

Andile said people all over the county were complaining of a police shortage, “but there are those criminals who kill even the police we have”.

“My brother was on duty and was in full uniform when he was killed. Nobody will ever say they did not know he was a policeman.

“Criminals have no regard for human life, they kill police, traditional leaders, business leaders, government and political leaders, and even church leaders.

“This has left us devastated. He was the only elder left in my family.

“We don’t have parents and our uncles and aunts have all died, so he was the head of the Nomatiti household, a pillar to us all.

“He was everything to us, a father figure.

“His contribution did not end with our families but extended to the whole community, where he donated to sport and used sport as a vehicle to fight crime and address other social ills like drugs and alcohol abuse and teenage pregnancy.”

Police are seeking at least two people suspected of shooting the warrant officer.

Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Majola Nkohi said the incident happened at about 2.45pm.

“It is alleged that two men, at least one of them armed with a firearm, accosted a 59-year-old warrant officer in Chaplain Street in Ngqeleni.

“The police officer was fatally shot, and his service pistol was also stolen.”

Police are urging anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of the suspects to contact the nearest police station, or Crime Stop on 08600-10111. 

Mene extended her condolences to the family.

“This incident is seen as an attack on the authority of the state. We assure the public that we will do our best to ensure the perpetrators are brought to book.

“Police management would like to remind police officers to be vigilant and alert at all times because criminals are bold and brazen and do not think twice about attacking us.”

He was the second policeman to die in the OR Tambo district after another was killed in a car accident between Mthatha and Tsolo a few weeks ago.

 Thirty-one police officers were killed between April and June 2023 — almost double the number killed by criminals during the same period in 2022.

A total of 39 police officers were killed in the line of duty in SA between April 2023 and March 2024.

On September 1, they were honoured at the National Commemoration Day in Pretoria.

Early in 2024, police confiscated 12 illegal firearms including rifles and 70 rounds of ammunition in several parts of the OR Tambo district.

Nomatiti’s killing came on the eve of the visit  by Mchunu and Masemola to Ngobozana village in Lusikisiki, where 18 people were killed in a mass shooting early on Sunday.

This week, the Mthatha high court is to sentence four police killers, members of the controversial Mancoba Seven Angels Ministries, who attacked the Ngcobo police station and massacred five policemen in February 2018.

The group robbed police officers of their firearms and ammunition.

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