The South African police, SAPS, even by its own trigger-happy standards, has gone on a remarkable killing rampage over the past few weeks.
In Mpumalanga, five suspected cash-in-transit robbers were shot dead in an encounter at the gang’s den Witbank. A further eight were detained and “about nine” somehow managed to escape the fusillade.
In KwaZulu-Natal, police killed all nine members of a gang that had for months been terrorising the community from their Mariannhill safe house. Four illegal firearms were recovered.
The previous week, also in KZN,