A man convicted of killing Table View police officer Sergeant Nameto Molemo two years ago was handed a 25-year prison sentence last week.
After entering a plea agreement with the State, Luyanda Fuzile, 38, was sentenced in the Western Cape High Court, on Tuesday August 29, to 25 years for murder, 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances, 15 years for possession of an unlicensed firearm, five years for attempted murder, five years for kidnapping, and two years for possession of ammunition.
The sentences are to run concurrently, according to Hawks spokeswoman Warrant Officer Zinzi Hani.
Sergeant Molemo had been responding to a business robbery on Friday November 26, 2021. A shootout between police and the robbers ensued and one of the bullets hit Sergeant Molema in the head, and he later died in hospital.
His partner, Sergeant Malibongwe Mnani, was shot and wounded in the leg (“Table View in shock after policeman slain,” Tabletalk, December 1).
On Thursday December 2, 2021, a wreath-laying ceremony was held at the Table View police station, and later, a memorial service was held at the Milnerton Aquatic Club (“Table View honours slain police officer,” Tabletalk, December 8, 2021).
Table View police station commander Colonel Junaid Alcock said the sentence was too lenient.
“The court should have taken the circumstances into consideration in the violent way the officer was taken from us. A life sentence would have been accepted better. We are still in constant contact with the wife of the late Sergeant Molema and continue to support her and the family on an emotional level.”
According to Warrant Officer Hani, the three other men arrested in connection with the shootout are due to go on trial in the Western High Court, on the same charges as Fuzile, on Friday October 20.
