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Police Minister Bheki Cele arrives at the home of murdered chief police officer Charl Kinear on Saturday.
- Police Minister Bheki Cele says that the assassinated senior police officer Charl Kinnear was “condemned by the police.”
- The minister visited the Kinnear family on Saturday.
- He said that Kinnear was “the best of the best.”
Police Minister Bheki Cele admitted that the police “failed” the murdered police detective, Lieutenant Colonel Charl Kinnear.
The minister said this at a briefing at the Kinnear family driveway after spending nearly an hour with Kinnear’s wife, Nicolette, and their children, Carlisle and Casleigh.
Kinnear was shot and killed outside his home in Bishop Lavis in Cape Town on Friday.
Cele said: “I spoke with the president yesterday that the problems here are serious.
“I have to say that sadly right now, there are more questions than answers … but right now, as it stands, it seems we have failed as a police officer. We could have done better.”
Cele said he would not hesitate to ask the president for additional resources, if necessary, to locate Kinnear’s killers.
‘Top of the crop’
Kinnear, the minister said, had been “the best of the crop” and had been ranked as the top police investigator in the Western Cape and number three in South Africa.
Kinnear had been “not just an ordinary human being, but an extraordinary human being.”
The family had demanded that Kinnear not become “a statistic.” She said “they want to know what happened.”
“It is clear that we have lost a good man … Usually the police are attacked … whom nobody appreciates. [the media] it was unanimous … that Kinnear was ‘the best of the best’.
“That tells you what kind of man we’ve lost,” Cele said.
He confirmed that other police officers had received death threats, including Major General Andre Lincoln, and that they would be protected.
Suspicious murder
Kinnear’s murder is suspected of being a murder, although police have not confirmed this. They also did not want to speculate on the possible motive for the murder.
Bishop Lavis residents told News24 that shots were heard around 3 p.m.
In a statement, National Police Commissioner General Khehla John Sitole said: “We are all saddened by this tragic premature loss of Colonel Kinnear and his assassination is a great loss for South Africa and its people.”
Sitole tasked the Western Cape Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Yolisa Matakata, to immediately activate the 72-hour Activation Plan.
Kinnear was attached to the Western Cape Anti-Gang Unit as a section commander and was involved in the investigations of several high-profile cases, which resulted in multiple arrests.
