Cele was accompanied by the Deputy Minister, Cassel Mathale, and the Deputy National Commissioner, Fannie Masemola.

The 47-year-old police officer was gunned down while responding to a petrol station robbery in Thabong on 6 December 2022.

The provincial police spokesperson, Stephen Thakeng, told OFM News that the police officer was shot by a suspect that the police were about to arrest.

Shots were fired at Sergeant Mapane, who had jumped a high wall following a tip-off about the suspect's location. He was shot in the stomach and rushed to the hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.

He was stationed at the Sasolburg Public Order Policing and was temporarily deployed in a Provincial Task Team dealing with illegal mining in the Matjhabeng Municapality.
He served as a police officer for 14 years and left behind his wife, also a police officer stationed in Zamdela, as well as three children.

The memorial service will take place on Wednesday, 14 December 2022 and the funeral on Saturday, 17 December 2022. Both services will be held at Zamdela Hall in Sasolburg.

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This is the second police officer who was shot in the same case. The first police officer was shot in his right arm and robbed of his gun during the armed robbery at the gas station. The suspects then managed to flee the scene in a white Volkswagen Polo.

ALSO READ: Petrol attendant expected in court after armed robbery

Police have since arrested 37-year-old Mangaliso Stephen Hoko, a petrol attendant at the petrol station that was robbed. Thakeng requested community members to assist with information that may lead to the arrest of the man that he described as a foreign national who is possibly armed with an AK47. 

OFM News