The South African Police Service (SAPS) has observed this year’s National Police Day by raising funds for the children 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 have made and continue to make as they provide safety for all 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 all 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 go towards the educational
needs of the children.

SAPSET currently funds children from Grade RR to the tertiary level.

To date, the fund has assisted 1 078 children, of which 54 have graduated and 146 of them have passed matric and have a National Senior Certificate (NSC).

The management of the SAPS, led by Police Minister General Bheki Cele, expressed gratitude to all the sponsors and donors for their support.

‘These funds go a long way in making a meaningful difference in the lives of these children left behind. The least we can do is to ensure these children don’t carry the extra burden of stressing about school fees, books, and school uniforms knowing their educational needs have been taken care of.

‘We hope more corporates and the overall business fraternity will in future come on board to support this cause,’ said Cele.

The National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Fannie Masemola, thanked all the men and women in blue for risking their lives daily to keep all 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 dangerous 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 stop 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 run over by a truck while assisting at an accident scene in KwaZulu-Natal. These killings have to stop, and they can only stop if communities take 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 keep children in school.

Source: South African Government News Agency