Johannesburg – Criminals seeking to thwart crime prevention efforts by making police officers suffer will not succeed, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said on Tuesday.

“Those who seek to derail our crime-reduction efforts, merciless criminals whose intention is create anguish among us, shall not succeed,” Mthethwa said in a statement.

“The war on crime is a people’s war and as history has indicated, the people become victorious in the end.”

Mthethwa was reacting to the killing of a policeman on patrol in Nyanga on Monday night. Another officer was wounded in the shooting.

Police said two men shot the officer in the head as he and his partner were getting out of their police car.

The minister described the shooting as an “ambush”.

“We urge South Africans to rally behind our police officers,” said Mthethwa.

“We can all begin to make a practical declaration by exposing those who kill our officers and not harbour them.”

– SAPA