Treason for police killers? Expert says SA must tackle bigger crime crisis

PRETORIA - President Cyril Ramaphosa has described the killing of police officers as an attack on the state, raising questions about whether those who target SAPS members should face tougher charges. But criminal justice researcher Dr Mfuneko Sihlobo says police killings cannot be viewed separately from South Africa's broader murder and crime crisis. Ramaphosa was speaking at a ceremony honouring 12 police officers who died in the line of duty during the last financial year. The youngest was a 25-year-old woman. Three of the officers were stationed in the North West, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, while the others served in Gauteng. 'This confronts us with a difficult question,' Ramaphosa said. 'What kind of society kills the very people entrusted to protect it?' The President has vowed strong action against those who target SAPS members, describing such attacks as treasonous and an assault on the rule of law and the democratic state. Police officers killed in the line of duty are honoured annually at the government ceremony. The 12 officers honoured this year represent a decline from the 27 and 32 officers honoured in the previous two years. Could police killers face treason charges? South Africa recognises high treason as a common-law offence. It generally involves unlawful conduct by a person owing allegiance to the state, with the intention of overthrowing or coercing the government, endangering national security or changing the country's constitutional structure. Sihlobo says simply describing the killing of police officers as treasonous would not be enough to create a new criminal charge. If government wants treason to specifically apply to the killing of police officers, Parliament would have to amend the law. But Sihlobo questions whether tougher charges would address the underlying problem. A broader crime crisis Sihlobo says police killings form part of a much larger crisis facing South Africa. 'The murder stats for 2023 show 27,368 people were murdered,' he says. 'Out of that, less than 100 were police officers.' He says that while some officers may be deliberately targeted, others are killed while carrying out their duties. For Sihlobo, the focus should therefore extend beyond the punishment of those who attack police officers. 'The state should look at the cause of the problem,' he says. He argues that crime and its underlying causes need greater attention, warning that tougher sentences alone will not solve the problem. Treason carries a prison sentence of between 10 and 30 years, but Sihlobo says even that would not necessarily deter criminals from targeting police officers. 'Police have to stop crime,' he says.