By Brig Dirk Lambrechts
Question:
Towards the end of 2023, there were numerous calls that “police killings must be made high treason”. In fact, supporters of this recommendation that police killers must be charged with the offence of “high treason” included both POPCRU and SAPU.
A reader asked Pollex whether such a move, namely to charge police killers with “high treason” would provide for harsher sentences to the perpetrators.
Answer:
It is of course not the first time that such recommendations are being made. The first time that Pollex responded to such recommendations was a discussion entitled “Police killers to be removed from society for the longest time legally possible?”, which was published in Pollex in Servamus: March 2016 and which reads as follows:
“Police killers to be removed from society for the longest time legally possible?
According to media reports from 30 January 2016, the MEC for Community Safety and Liaison in KZN, Willies Mchunu, is quoted as having allegedly suggested that ‘police killers be charged with high treason’ (Afrikaans: ‘hoogverraad’).
Question: What do the majority of us want to happen to ‘police killers’?
Answer: We want them to be removed from society for as long as legally possible.
[This is only an extract of an article that is published in Servamus: March 2024. This article is available for purchase.]