Evincing the calibre of people working at the Mpumalanga Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), 36 of this elite provincial unit’s members were recently promoted to a higher rank.
This follows extensive investment in members, as well as work ethics that routinely saw members go above and beyond the call of duty.

While the majority of these members were staying in the province to fortify its efforts in investigating priority crimes, 12 have accepted promotions elsewhere. Five of these (including four specialist cybercrime investigators) will be leaving the DPCI for other units within the police. This, according to the head of the Mpumalanga DPCI, General Nico Gerber, is a vast loss of knowledge to the DPCI, especially as cybercrime is skyrocketing.

While 11 members were promoted from outside the province to join Mpumalanga’s elite police unit, also known as the Hawks, this still left the province one member short of their previous member count.

Gerber said not having as many people on the ground as one would ideally like to necessitated a balancing act. Handing over case files to new investigators created problems, especially with bigger cases, as they consisted of multiple files the new investigators needed to catch up on. He said one way of preventing the shifting of bodies would be for the provision already made in the law for DPCI members to be on a higher salary dispensation to be enforced. He explained once the law was enforced, a captain in the DPCI would, for example, earn a higher salary than a captain in the SAPS. Currently this law is enforced on provincial and national head levels, but not further down the food chain.

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Celebrating career advances

The 36 promotions included, among others, four captains promoted to lieutenant colonels and four lieutenant colonels being made full colonels.
The most well known to the public is the provincial spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Dineo Sekgotodi, freshly promoted from her previous rank of captain. Her promotion is, however, bittersweet to the province as Sekgotodi’s new rank takes her away from Mpumalanga to head office in Pretoria where she will continue her flourishing career in communications.

Fortunately, the local hot seat is in good hands as it will be filled by an equally competent Lieutenant Colonel Magonseni Nkosi, who has just been promoted out of SAPS Mpumalanga’s provincial office where he held the rank of captain and was a provincial spokesperson. He now holds the rank of lieutenant colonel in the DPCI.

The former Nelspruit Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit’s team leader, Lieutenant Colonel Erhard Ströh, has been made full colonel and takes the reins as unit commander.
Colonel Lebohane Dzhaudzhau has received the same promotion as Ströh, but takes the helm at Nelspruit’s Serious Corruption Investigation Unit.

The Nelspruit Serious Organised Crime unit also welcomes the former captain, now lieutenant colonel, Mduduzi Mkhonza as its new team leader.
Nelspruit, sadly, says goodbye to recently promoted Lieutenant Colonel Luzile Ndhlovu, who leaves the Nelspruit Serious Corruption Unit to join the Middelburg Serious Commercial Crime unit, as well as Colonel Thabelo Takalani, who leaves the Nelspruit Serious Commercial Crime Investigation unit to join its sister unit in Middelburg.

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