New post-service career path for Lt-Col Hannaway
Lt-Col Hannaway is always trying to better herself, and hasn't stopped studying throughout her career.
Lieutenant Colonel Franci Hannaway (60) retires this month after 40 years and 229 days in the police force.Lt-Col Hannaway joined the police force in Dundee in 1979. After attending police college, she was transferred to Durban Radio Control. During her career she rendered duties at Umkomaas, Paddock and Port Shepstone SAPS.
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In 1990 she started the Child Protection Unit on the South Coast and went on to serve as commander of this unit for 19 years. She said her time as head of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) unit was difficult at times, and emotionally challenging.”You wake up at all sorts of hours during the night, and are constantly worried about the safety of the children,” she said.
One of the cases that stood out for her was when a 14-year-old girl was raped by two off-duty policemen at the Port Shepstone beachfront on November 2, 1999. The teen knew one of the policemen and so got into their vehicle. Lt-Col Hannaway worked tirelessly on the case and on June 28, 2001 the men were each handed two life sentences for rape, two sentences of 10 years’ imprisonment for indecent assault and a five year sentence for kidnapping. In 2009, she took up a post at the Provincial Discipline Unit where she was responsible for chairing police disciplinary hearings.
Although based in Port Shepstone, her 11-year career took her to different parts of KwaZulu-Natal to chair hearings involving murder, corruption, shop lifting, misconduct and negligence, to name a few. “The whole purpose of misconduct hearings is not to just punish but to restore individuals to accepted standards. I have to be fair and listen to both sides of the story.
“However, dealing with gross misconduct such as murder, rape, and corruption, one has to consider the negative impact that the misconduct has on the community at large, how it affects the image and integrity of SAPS and if the trust relationship between SAPS and the charged employee can ever be restored.”
Therefore if found guilty, these types of offenders no longer have any place in the police force and the only sanction to fit the misconduct is a dismissal. “She said that her career had been very interesting, and she had learned a lot. If it wasn’t for the police force, she said she wouldn’t have experienced or been exposed to so much. “The general public won’t understand what we deal with on a daily basis. People are very quick to judge the police without understanding but there are many people doing a lot of good work.” She added that she was grateful to have worked with some of the country’s top cops who are dedicated and have a lot of integrity.
Lt-Col Hannaway is always trying to better herself, and hasn’t stopped studying throughout her career. In the last five years she has studied for and received distinctions in both advanced labour law and industrial relations (CCMA Commissioners course). Currently she is studying mediation through Social Justice, with her passion lying in family mediation. This involves helping parents through the transition of divorce or separation to make the best decisions in the interest of their children in respect of parental plans, schedules, maintenance, and so on.
“It is a calling to be a policeman, and you must be the type of person who from an early age wants to ‘catch the baddies’ and are not in the job just for the salary. “After she officially retires, she hopes to fulfil her dream to tour Europe for three months next year. When she returns, she intends to carry on with mediation. She also plans to spend quality time with her seven grandchildren who live on the coast and keep her on her toes, while also taking care of her 85-year-old mother, Lenie.
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