Two Eastern Cape police officers shot dead at Libode spaza shop as 72-hour manhunt begins

Two South African Police Service officers were shot dead in the early hours of Friday, 18 September 2026, while responding to an armed robbery at a spaza shop in Ziphunzana Location, Libode, near Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.

The officers, aged 51 and 30, were attached to the Mthatha National Intervention Unit and the Public Order Policing Unit. Both were found with fatal gunshot wounds. Their service pistols were missing from the scene.

As The Citizen reported on 18 September, police have opened two cases of murder, two counts of attack on police, two counts of robbery of police firearms and one count of attempted business robbery.

A cordless grinder used to cut the shop’s burglar door was recovered at the scene. Police say armed suspects had been attacking the spaza shop and demanding money from the operator when the officers answered a call for assistance.

What the police say

Police spokesperson Brigadier Nobuntu Gantana said the officers’ names would be released once their next of kin had been notified.

A multidisciplinary team has been deployed and a 72-hour plan activated to trace and arrest the suspects.

Eastern Cape provincial commissioner Lieutenant General Vuyisile Ncata condemned the killings in direct terms. “The brutal murder of our members is an attack on the State, and we will not rest until those responsible are arrested and prosecuted,” he said. He sent condolences to the families and colleagues of the two officers and said the service would support them.

Police have asked anyone with information to contact the nearest police station, call Crime Stop on 08600 10111, or submit details through the MySaps App. Information will be treated confidentially.

Why the 72-hour plan matters

The 72-hour activation plan is a standing SAPS protocol for priority cases, and it is worth understanding what it does. It puts detectives, forensic specialists and intelligence officers on one clock, with the first three days treated as the window in which leads are warmest. Roadblocks, vehicle tracing and witness statements are worked in parallel rather than in sequence. It is the same instrument the service has used in other high-profile investigations, and it is the reason arrests in these cases often come quickly or not at all.

The National Intervention Unit is a specialised SAPS unit deployed to high-risk operations, including public order and serious violent crime. Public Order Policing handles crowd management and unrest. Both carry firearms as part of their standard equipment, and the loss of two service pistols in a single incident is a serious matter in itself, because police-issue weapons that reach the illegal market are a documented danger to the public.

The wider picture

This killing comes in the same month that President Cyril Ramaphosa used the National Commemoration Day in Pretoria to honour 12 officers killed in the line of duty over the past year, and to warn that police killings threaten the country’s stability. He called on citizens, government and SAPS to confront the problem with accountability and reform.

The National Commemoration Day exists precisely because these deaths are not isolated. It is a day set aside to remember officers who died on duty, and the ceremony in Pretoria this month put names and families to the number. Ramaphosa spoke of widows, young children and a pregnant wife left behind.

What happens next

The 72-hour plan is running. The suspects are still at large, and no arrests had been announced at the time of publication. The officers’ names will be released once their families have been notified.

Anyone with information can call Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or use the MySaps App.

Source: The Citizen, JUST IN: Police launch manhunt after officers gunned down in Eastern Cape