Hundreds of mourners packed the Methodist Church in Ngcobo to pay tribute to the five officers and a soldier gunned down at the local police station last week.
The community and family members came out in their numbers on Tuesday morning, packing the church building and the large tent set up outside the church to accommodate the mourners.
Premier Phumulo Masualle, Eastern Cape provincial ANC chair, Oscar Mabuyane, and the provincial police management attended the church service. Newly appointed police minister, Bheki Cele, was also expected to attend.
The church hall come alive as members of police union Popcru sang “siyaya noba besidubula, noba besibulala, siyaya”, which can be loosely translated to: “We are going forward even if they shoot at us, we will never retreat, we are going forward.”
Four of the 10 suspects – who were arrested at the Mancoba village on Friday night – appeared at the Ngcobo Magistrates’ Court on Monday to face charges of murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
The case was postponed and the accused will appear again on March 8.
Meanwhile, three more police officers were killed in Ngcobo last night after the vehicle in which they were travelling collided with a horse. The accident took place not far away from where some of the police officers were executed during last week’s massacre.
Read: ‘It was like a war zone’: Attack on police station was ‘well-coordinated’
The accident was also close to the crime scene where police shot and killed seven suspects at the premises of the Mancoba Seven Angels Ministries, from where the police massacre had been masterminded.
Read: Inside cop killers’ horror sex cult
According to MEC for safety, Weziwe Tikane, the three police officers were not part of the investigation of the Ngcobo police killing but were on their way to arrest a suspect linked to crimes that were committed in the North West.
“It has been established and confirmed that the North West members who were involved in the accident on the R61 from Mthatha to Engcobo were tracing a suspect for a crime that had no relation or bearing to the Engcobo attack incident,” said provincial spokesperson, Captain Khaya Thonjeni.
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