Soshanguve police celebrate Heritage Day with community
The police alongside the local CPF, Nkensani primary school and locals celebrated together through traditional music, dance and poetry.
Soshanguve SAPS members took some time out to celebrate their roots, heritage and culture for Heritage Day on Friday.
The police alongside the local CPF, Nkensani primary school and locals celebrated together through traditional music, dance and poetry.
According to Soshanguve police support services head Colonel Tshoene Makhafola, this kind of event motivates them to celebrate themselves for who they are.
“All the time they would be out there serving our communities without having time to celebrate themselves,” she said.
She added that it was the right opportunity for them to celebrate their own cultures and to remember where they come from.
“It was an opportunity to also mingle with the community we are serving hence you see that some community members are celebrating with us here,” she said.
She said most kids when they see the police assume that they’re there to search or arrest them and they had to change that narrative.
“We want them to come closer to the police so that they see that the police are part of the community. They can come and sit next to us and see that indeed these are our mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters,” she said.
School principal Fredah Masingi said it was great to be part of the event and have the learners represent the different tribes in the school population.
She said the school respects culture and will continue to celebrate it all the time.
“We prepare our learners for different cultural activities every day not only when Heritage Day comes,” she said.
She said Heritage Day reminds her of who she is as a Tsonga person and what it means to be Tsonga including getting to know other tribes and their cultural heritage.
CPF chairperson Lerumo Maleka said it was important to host a Heritage Day event and inviting the community was a great step in the right direction.
He said Heritage Day was an effort to eradicate the legacy of colonialism.
“In commemorating Heritage Day, we join together as one to celebrate our history,” he said.
He said learners looked at the police differently after they got involved in the activities with them.
“As the CPF we promote a working relationship between the community and the police so that the communicate can report the crime the police would be unable to solve on their own,” he said.
He added that this helps stop crime and grow the relationship between the police and the community.
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