DEAR Editor,-
Last Monday at about 4.45pm, two cellphones, one belonging to the company I work for and one personal, were stolen off my desk where I work in Manaba. In the initial panic I didn’t even think of phoning the police, but when I spoke to my husband, (a retired medically-boarded Lt-Col police station commander), he insisted I report the incident.
I was reluctant because it was home time and would mean waiting for the police, which could be a long time (if ever)! I phoned the 10111 number. Office clerk Lungi Ntanjana answered within three rings and told me that they would dispatch someone within a few minutes.
I thanked him, thinking to myself ‘Yeah, right – this is going to be a long wait’. About two minutes later, a police vehicle entered the driveway. I was amazed and asked how they got there so quickly. Constables Themi Nyanda and Thabiso Mahlamvu said they had been in the area when they got the call.
After taking my statement, they advised I would receive the case number via sms. They were calm and friendly and really helped put me at ease because I was really upset. When I got home, my husband informed me that the sms with the case number had arrived!
A few minutes later, Const Siphosenkosi Hlongwana called my husband’s cell to confirm I had received the sms and advised that WO Trevor Moodley would contact me the following day. Before lunchtime the next day, WO Moodley made an appointment to come and see me, arriving at the office within half an hour.
Knowing it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack and neither of the phones would be seen again, we closed the case since it could have been anyone who had visited our offices.
Within an hour, WO Moodley called to say that const Sandile Xolo had just arrested a suspect with one of the phones and could I come in the next day to identify it? I verified the phone and was treated with so much respect that I left feeling like I was a ‘somebody’! Not a ‘nobody’ or just a number!
Capt Gerald Mfeka, I commend you and your great team for the excellent, professional service and the clean police station. My faith in our police system has been restored and I feel safer now.
LISE VAN NIEKERK
Manaba
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