When the Potchefstroom police station announced their best cleaner of the year at their year-end function, every single man and woman in blue stood up, clapped hands and shouted for pure joy and appreciation.
Johannes Thibedi (41), better known to his colleagues as Bok, has been a full-time cleaner at the SAPS since 2011. He didn’t receive his award just for leaving everything he touches sparkling clean, however, but because he goes above and beyond what is expected of him.
This father of four was born and bred in Potchefstroom and matriculated at Boitsoka Secondary School. He first worked as a cashier at Shoprite. Today, his job description is a cleaner but, at the Potchefstroom police station, he is so much more than that.
‘I do every job they ask me to do. I also work as a store clerk at the supply chain store and as a transporter. When SAPS members have to attend courses, I take them there and bring them back.’
At the award ceremony, the Potchefstroom station commander, Brig. Steven Moodley described Bok as someone who is always available, no matter what. If they need him at another station, he goes without question and, on top of that, he also enjoys his job.
‘When I am at work, all my stress goes away. The people I work with really make me enjoy what I do,’ he says.
Bok is everyone’s go-to person. People feel they can talk to him about anything and he loves listening and providing moral support and even a shoulder to cry on.
Bok does everything expected of him and more, hoping that, one day, he will also wear the blue uniform with pride. For now, though, he wants to study and will be starting a course in supply chain management at Vuselela College next year. ‘I have dreamt about being in the police force. One day, I am going to be one of them. I am happy but I don’t want to be a cleaner for the rest of my life,’ he says, full of hope.
He believes he has been a cleaner for a reason. It wasn’t something he wanted to do but it happened, and he has accepted it with a smile.
‘You meet many people in life. Don’t compare yourself to them but don’t give up on the dream of where you see yourself one day, either,’ he says.
‘God, teach me to keep my promises, help me to obey, show me what my duty is, then You’ll save me day by day.’ These are the words Bok lives by. He knows that, in time, God will place him where he needs to be if he performs his duties, no matter what they are, to the best of his ability.
The Potchefstroom police spokesperson, WO Mpho Manyoba, describes Bok as a gift from God and hopes he will never change.
‘We should pray that God blesses us with more people like him and that He will change us to be more like him. He is a book that can easily be read,’ she said.
