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20090918

Widow of Afrikaner cop denied benefits

 

When does the widow of an on-duty policeman who died in a car-crash -- directly caused by the smugglers inside an abalone-truck the police were keeping under surveillance -- get to qualify for death-benefits?

  • Is this about race; about keeping the official death-rate statistics of South African policemen as low as possible? Or a little bit of both?

Tonder v Sunett widow of killed cop Ryno van Tonder gets no death benefits 2009-09-06 Alet Rademeyer of Beeld newspaper reports:

Sept 7 2009 – PRETORIA. The SA Police Service claims that 105 police officers were ‘murdered’ countrywide during the 2008 book year between March 2008 and March 2009.

These policemen’s surviving relatives also are the only ones to receive the government’s one-time death-benefit payouts of R200,000.

However the relatives of other policemen who also died while on duty in other ways  -- such as the widow of Inspector Ryno van Tonder, 37, whose husband was run down while he was on duty to investigate a crime in June last year, gets nothing at all.

Not getting benefits:

His widow, Mrs Sunett van Tonder, told Beeld newspaper yesterday during the annual memorial service for policemen who had died from March last year to March this year, that she was still struggling to get the government to admit that he was killed while on duty, and that her family would thus also be entitled to these benefits.   He was listed  on the official Roll of Honour on the SAPS website:  http://www.saps.gov.za/saps_profile/honour/Roll_of_Honour_-_updated.doc

PICTURE: Mrs Sunett van Tonder, widow of inspector Ryno van Tonder (37), holding Reghardt, one of her two-year-old triplets, and with daughter Thenika (4) clutching her shirt during the SAPS memorial service for deceased police officers at the Union Buildings. She is flanked by family friend Supt. Dolf Bezuidenhout, holding triplet Mijanca on the arm. Picture by BEELD NEWSPAPER: Craig Nieuwenhuizen

Death benefits refused for widow of killed white policeman insp Ryno van Tonder
Tonder_van_Sunett_Family_WidowMurderedInsp_Ryno_RefusedDeathBenefits

She had lready spoken to the news media before about this problem, in an article published on Nov 23 2008 by Rapport journalist Marenet Jordaan . The two police detectives had died together while they were investigating an organised crime unit which smuggles abalone from South Africa: a large abalone-smuggling truck had run over their police car while the detectives were observing a suspect site.  The widow points out that the men were on active duty - however the SAPS has now also turned down her second request to pay the R200,000 death-benefit payouts to the widow and the four orphans because the two Afrikaner cops " had died in a traffic accident.' A ‘traffic accident’ however which was caused by the very abalone-smugglers the policemen had kept under surveillance at the time.  Police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane was moreover, coldly unapologetic when confirming that the widow’s claim had been turned down. He says 'there's a difference between a policeman who dies on duty, and one who dies in the line of duty...' Phahlane also said back then that 'his committee was under no obligations of having to communicate with Mrs Van Tonder.' http://www.news24.com/Rapport/Suid-Afrika/0,,752-2460_2431021,00.html

Bitter day for me:

Mrs Van Tonder spoke up again about the denial of her death-benefit rights at the SA Police Service ’s memorial day for all the police officers who had died  last year. Mrs Van Tonder, supported by family, friends and colleagues of her late husband, was present with the couple’s triplets Henrico, Reghardt en Mijanca (2) en their older sister Thenika (4).

  • She said the memorial day ‘is a bitter day for me. I have been waging a hopeless battle to get the police to pay out the death-benefits of R200,000,’ she said.
  • Her husband and a colleague, Captain Hendrik Cronjé, were killed in June last year in a car-crash on the N1-highway 10km outside Kroonstad while they were on duty investigating a crime for which they had to travel from Pretoria to Bloemfontein. The police authorities however refuse to pay out, claiming that ‘there’s a difference between a policeman who dies on duty, and one who died while engaged in his work”.

Mrs van Tonder said that as far as she was concerned, the memorial service ‘was just another reception for the police. It means nothing to them. I am present today to commemorate the fact that my husband had given his life while on duty, while working for the police service.’

The exact death-rates of police officers still remain rather fuzzy when one reads this Beeld report: of the 105 policemen who were listed as ‘murdered’ last year, 41 were gunned down while on duty, while 64 of them had been off-duty at the time they were murdered, writes the journalist. However, many other police officers also died last year due to other causes similar to Inspector Van Tonder’s case.  http://www.beeld.com/Content/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/1928/5d5a391452ac439a96eeae3681d906a8/06-09-2009-11-26/‘Mens_wil_nie_kind_se_naam_hiér_sien’

Commemorated: Inspector Lukas Nell, 35, shot on duty June 2009

Another family who was present commemorated inspector Lukas Nell, 34,  Fifteen-year-old Nikita said: “My dad wasn’t a hero, he was THE hero. He wasn’t just another policeman, he was THE policeman.’ Karen Nell, his mother, said it’s a heartsore day for her. It’s not a place where you want to see your child’s name. I still have another son in the police and I live in fear for him every day.” Nell was shot in June last year while chasing a suspect in a patrol car, and died of his injuries in hospital. He leaves three children, including Nikita, Marnus, 6, and Marnu, 5.

The newspaper reports that parents, spouses and children sobbed and cried in the most heart-rending way while they placed flowers and wreaths in memory of their loved ones. “Also attending were the new police commissioner Bheki Cele and the new police minsiter Nathi Mthethwa, as well as his deputy Fikile Mbalula.http://www.beeld.com/Content/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/1928/5d5a391452ac439a96eeae3681d906a8/06-09-2009-11-26/‘Mens_wil_nie_kind_se_naam_hiér_sien’

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