Thokoza hero cop honoured with a tombstone

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) honoured the late heroic cop Warrant Officer Lulama Michel Mabece with a tombstone, 23 years after his passing.

Mabece was one of the founding members of the POPCRU.

The tombstone was handed over to the Mabece family at Isaac Scotty Nyashengo Cemetery in Vosloorus, on October 18.

Mabece’s two daughters Thoniswa (41) and Buhle Senenzwakazi Mabece (32) said they wanted erect to the tombstone for their father but they did have the strength to follow through with their wish.

“Having someone give us such a lovely gift of remembrance of such an important person in our lives we cannot express our gratitude enough,” said Buhle.

She said she was eight years old when she lost her father.

“It was difficult growing up without a father but the family tried to fill the gap, especially his uncle Lungelo Mabece.

“He tried to play a fatherly role in our lives but there are still things that you need to do with your own father. There are things I will still wish to do with my father like walking down the aisle.”

She said her mother was her pillar of strength, describing her as the strongest ‘man’ she knows.

“She played the role of a mother and father in my life. She made sure that I was strong enough to stand up and do things for myself and not feel that void that my father was not present.”

Thoniswa was 18 years old when his father died. She described her father as a bubbly person who loved cracking jokes and cared about the community.

“He was a good father, he never wanted us to feel like he was a police officer. When he was at home he was just our father, and he shared jokes with us. I do not recall him beating us. He used to sit us down and talk to us whenever we did something wrong,” said Thoniswa.

She said there was a day his father returned home with two knives that he had seized from school children.
“He stopped on his way home when he saw those boys. He probably saved someone’s life because we do not know what those boys were going to do with those knives.”

Mabece was born in Soweto in 1964 but due to the segregation laws during apartheid, he moved to Gqeberha, where he stayed with relatives.

According to his brother Lungile, he attended four schools in Gqeberha, two primary schools named Mosa and Hetney before moving to high school at Fundani Junior Secondary (then) and later went to Mbhekweni High School where he matriculated in 1983.

After completing matric he moved to Gauteng to live with relatives.

He started doing piece jobs. At some point, he worked in construction and retail.

Before he joined the SAPS, he worked as a guard for South African railways. He was among the group of security officials who joined SAPS in 1996 when the government decided to do away with railway police to integrate them into SAPS.

Mabece was a police officer stationed at Thokoza SAPS. He was killed in Katlehong in 2000 while on duty.
Lungile said POPCRU that his brother fought to be established was non-existent when he joined the SAPS in 1988. POPCRU was ultimately launched in 1989.

“The kind of honour that POPCRU has given to us as a family and to him as one of the founders of the organisation, gives us hope that there are still people who are true to their word.

“My brother was a person of action. He considered what needed to be done within the family and at his workplace,” said Lungile.

He described Mabece as a person who loved involving himself in everything.

“He was involved in rugby, soccer and boxing and at some stage he was an athlete.”

The local secretary of POPCRU, Malose Charles Bambo, said they honoured Mabece with an award in 2017.

“We also wanted to clean his tombstone on Mandela Day. This is when we noticed that our colleague did not have a tombstone on the grave.

“As a self-relent union, we decided to initiate a fundraiser to organise a tombstone because we do not have funding. We are happy to hand it over to the family,” noted Bambo.