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- Police Minister Bheki Cele spoke at the memorial service of two slain police officers.
- Sergeant Mnakwazo Mdoko, 46, and Mninawa Breakfast, 28, were ambushed.
- Cele said, in the last 15 days, seven police officers had died in KZN and the Western Cape.
Families, friends, police officers and Police Minister Bheki Cele gathered at the Lofdal International Church for the memorial service of police officers killed in an ambush in Kraaifontein on Sunday.
The memorial service follows Tuesday's visit to the families of 46-year-old Sergeant Mnakwazo Mdoko and 28-year-old Mninawa Breakfast.
Cele said: "In the last 15 days, we have lost seven members of the South African Police service in two provinces, KZN and the Western Cape. And I do not know what the police have done in these provinces. We are feeling pain. We don't have the energy of taking this pain forever."
At the memorial service, Cele called for an end to the violence against police officers.
"There is a narrative that [the] police are brutal. I always listen and it seems that it is normal that police must be killed... and that there is nothing wrong with killing the police. It is a wrong thing for the police to brutalise South Africans, but there's nothing wrong with South Africans brutalising the police," he said.
Mdoko and Breakfast were on patrol in Bloekombos at around 01:25 on Sunday when they were allegedly ambushed by a group of people.
Both Mdoko and Breakfast were declared dead at the scene. Their official firearms were allegedly stolen.
Cele told the families earlier this week that more arrests will be made.
So far, one person, Mxoleleni Sikhala, has been arrested.
He made a brief appearance in the Blue Downs Magistrate's Court on Tuesday morning.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said Sikhala was being charged with two counts of murder, attempted murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Sikhala's case was postponed to 9 March for bail information and for him to appoint an attorney.
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"It doesn't help much when we arrest these people. Yes, we have arrested somebody, but the fact of the matter is that someone has died. And the fact is that the police are losing are young police officers," Cele said.
Police union Popcru, in the Western Cape, has condemned the ongoing killing of police in the province.
Provincial chairperson Conwe Flink paid tribute to the two police officers.
"We want to say to our members that these senseless murders must not deter us to discharge our responsibilities as police officers. We must continue to fight crime, and combat gangsterism and organised crime when it occurs."
