Detective at Secunda Police retires after 33 years of service
The work takes dedication, accuracy and diligence. There is also a lot of paperwork that has to be thorough and accurate.
SECUNDA – W/O Thamsanqa Sekeleni (56), a seasoned detective at the Secunda Police Station, finished his long career in the police on Wednesday, 30 September.
He retired from law enforcement after 33 years of service.
W/O Sekeleni believes that he lived out his calling.
“I always wanted to be a cop. Ever since I can remember, I admired policemen and wanted to be like them.”
He grew up in KwaMashu, a large township close to Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, where he also finished high school in 1984.
However, it was only several years later that he eventually became a policeman.
His first stepping stone in his career path was to work at Pizzaland where he had been a part-time worker while at school. He then moved on to become the warehouse manager of a shoe store, but the minute he had the chance to venture into the security industry, he grabbed it with both hands.
“I took leave to go on a security course in Scottburgh for three weeks.”
This course paved the way for W/O Sekeleni ending up in the Govan Mbeki municipal area as part of the municipal law enforcement team.
“The municipal police was incorporated into the police services in 1989 and that was when I found myself in the position I had always wanted to be.”
For the first 10 years of his service, W/O Sekeleni worked in the charge office of the eMbalenhle Police Station.
“Capt Gama, who is now Genl Gama, saw detective potential in me. He was the head of the detectives at eMbalenhle in 1997 and took me under his wing.”
W/O Sekeleni said a good detective should never be lazy.
“The work takes dedication, accuracy and diligence. There is also a lot of paperwork that has to be thorough and accurate.”
The case that he is most proud of solving was that of a man in Kinross who shot his foreman in 2002. The killer was sent to jail for 25 years.
An incident that will always stay with him and which haunted him at night was a fatal crash at Kinross between a petrol tanker and a wood-carrying truck. Both vehicles were engulfed in flames and the passengers were trapped and burned to death in the truck with the wood cargo.
“It was my birthday and a party was about to begin when I heard the collision and I was soon summoned to the scene. For months afterward, I could not handle a braai of any kind.”
“When you see terrible things, does not bottle it up and turn to alcohol. peak about it, and allow yourself to cry.”
Although now retired, W/O Sekeleni do not plan to take things slow. He wants to try his hand at business and has already a plan in place.
His wife Joyce and their six-year-old son, Sibusiso, are also looking forward to spending more time with him at their home in eMbalenhle.
