UPDATE: North sergeant walks away with top award

Hard work for the Rietgat police social crime co-ordinator Sergeant Ntombizodwa Maphanga paid off when she walked off with a top provincial award.

To add to that, Maphanga recently, bagged a similar award at the Tshwane district excellence awards on 2 September.

She has now won the provincial visible policing employee of the year award handed over at a ceremony on Friday, at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park.

The excellence awards are aimed at encouraging hard-working officers of the Tshwane district to continue their sterling work of going beyond the call of duty.

Maphanga said she felt like she was dreaming, her heart skipped a beat when it was announced that she had won the award – a highlight of her 17-year career.

“I was overwhelmed. It was like a dream coming true. In my heart, I remembered my mother’s words who passed away two years ago, when she said ‘everything that you do, good or bad you do it for yourself and what you do in the dark God will show it in the light’.

“I was very happy and at the same time I thought of her and wished she was alive,” she said.

She thanked her children and Captain Stephen Maluleka for encouraging her.

“Maluleka supported and encouraged me a lot, I remember when we first saw the portfolios of the other contestants, I told him there was no way I would win but he said to me, ‘do not worry, this is yours’. Seeing them around me and the belief they have in me kept me strong,” said Maphanga.

READ MORE: Rietgat police officer wins award

“I am in the process of launching a man’s forum. I have approached taxi owners and their association to get taxi drivers to be part of the campaign to say they do not want to abuse women, children and be examples of good fathers. I want them to pledge that they do not want to be perpetrators of domestic violence. I want to start this thing here in Soshanguve, here in Tshwane but eventually, I want the campaign blossom all over Gauteng.”

She urged all men to take a stand and say no to domestic violence.

“Men are being labelled as abusers. It is difficult to see which man is different from the other. In their socials and everywhere they meet, I wish they would be men who will be voices of other men to say let us stop this. I know it is going to be a challenge for me as a woman to address men but I still believe there are positive men who can help me achieve this,” Maphanga said.

Maluleka described Maphanga as someone who puts the interest of the community first.

“She conforms to the code of conduct and she is a people-centric individual who always puts the interest of the community first.”

Maluleka said Maphanga’s acknowledgement was long overdue.

“I do not know precisely how music producers feel after their artists have won the award, but I think I feel exactly how they feel. I am ecstatic to see all the good work she has been doing culminating into something like this, I also hope that other members will take a leaf from her book.”

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