IT was his love of protecting the community that made Captain Bongumusa Manqele join the police force.

After 35 years, Manqele has taken an early retirement after serving as the Pinetown Cluster communications officer for 11 years.

Manqele grew up in KwaMaphumulo in the Ilembe District. “I had a family in Umlazi so I applied at Montclair Police Station.”

His application was sent to Durban Central, and he worked at Brighton Beach as a student for six months. He then did his training at Hammanskraal for six months and qualified to become a constable.

Also read: Pinetown Girls’ teacher retires after 40 years

“From college, I was posted to Jeppestown in 1989, where I worked until 1993 and was transferred to the Internal Stability Unit in Johannesburg. In November 1994, I was transferred to the Public Order Police (POP) where I worked until April 1997. Because of personal reasons, I had to go back to Johannesburg. Late in 1998, I came to POP Pietermaritzburg. In May 2000, I was transferred to Durban POP where I worked until 2007.”

Manqele has worked his way up as he now retires as a captain. He said he joined Pinetown SAPS in 2007.

“I was promoted as a lieutenant in 2011, which is the year I started my duties as a communications officer.
“My job was to liaise with the media, among other duties,” he said.

Asked about what he will miss most, Manqele said he will miss working with the community. “I worked a lot with various stakeholders and community structures, such as the community policing forum and municipal departments.”

In the meantime, the husband and father of one son said he will use the next few weeks to just relax and unwind by listening to music and watching television, which are things he didn’t time to do much when he was still working. “I came home late and was tired,” he said.

Also read: Security guard sentenced to 10 years for theft

Touching on the issue of crime in the Pinetown area, Manqele sighed and urged the public to report crime so police can open cases to investigate and know where the problems are.

“Police are trying to control the crime in the area as there are members of the crime prevention unit who are working day and night. We once had a huge problem with crimes, such as house robberies and carjacking, but after we established the Pinetown Tracing Unit, they played a huge role in decreasing those crimes,” said Manqele.

For more from the Highway Mail, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok.