Joint statement by Premier Winde and MEC Fritz on the murder of Charl Kinnear

Premier Alan Winde extends his deepest condolences to the family of Lieutenant Colonel Charl Kinnear who was killed outside of him home yesterday.  

Lieutenant Kinnear was a top detective with the police’s Anti-Gang Unit in the Western Cape who was working on a number of high profile cases involving some of the province’s top gang bosses.  

“This province is founded on the rule of law and our police service is already severely under-resourced. We cannot have a situation where our police officers, who commit to protect and serve the people of the Western Cape, are gunned down by criminals and thugs,” h said. 

This murder also comes just a day after MEC Albert Fritz met with national police Minister Bheki Cele and the City of Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for safety, JP Smith to formulate a plan to address ongoing extortion of Cape Town businesses.  

Premier Winde said: “The Western Cape Government is committed to making this province safe for the people who live here but we must have the police resources, and the assistance and trust of the public to do so.” 

Minister Fritz said: “I condemn the shooting and killing of Charl Kinnear yesterday in the strongest terms. An attack on a police officer is an attack on the state. I welcome the SAPS investigation into the matter and further wish to extent my heartfelt condolences to Kinnear's family during this difficult time." 

Premier Winde said: “We call on the police to act swiftly to arrest those involved in this murder, and for all those players in the criminal justice system to bring them to book. 

The police and the Hawks must shine a light onto the dark, criminal underworld that exists in this country, and act against its leaders and the corrupt system that enables it. Failure to take decisive action now will only result in further loss of life, and the death toll, for police and innocent civilians is already far too high.” 

He continued: ”We also reiterate the call we have been making for a number of years: to allocate the appropriate police resources including crime intelligence, detectives and public order police to the Western Cape to tackle crime, gangsterism and unrest. 

If SAPS are unable to protect one of their own- how do we expect members of the public to put their trust in them?”