Sergeant Edward Louw is honoured after 40 years of service for SAPS
The Trevor Huddleston Memorial Centre received archives of South Africa’s first Black Firearms Association co-founder
“My family just handed over my grandfather’s archive to the museum. He was instrumental in combating gang-related violence in the area during the 1970’s when the infamous Fast Guns and Vultures terrorised communities.
The articles from The Post and The Daily Mail detailed the rise of these gangs and the efforts by Sophiatown police to stop the violence,” explained award-winning activist and documentarian Angelo Louw. Louw’s grandfather, Sergeant Edward Louw served in the South African Police Service (SAPS) for forty (40) years and he was a co-founder of South Africa’s first firearms association for black people.
The Louw family donated the articles to the Trevor Huddleston Memorial Centre in Sophiatown to commemorate the notorious policeman’s contribution to the history of Sophiatown. Louw added that it is an honour to present the Trevor Huddleston Memorial Centre with his grandfather’s archive as the articles shine a different light on the gang violence that has plagued the area and it shows that the community has never been complacent, but that members of the community fought with their lives to stop the reign of terror since its onset.
“My grandfather is testament to the fact that when people join the SAPS with the right motives, to protect and serve the community, the police force can be an alley to the community and not contribute to its plight. There should be stricter criteria in the application process that questions why people want to become police,” said Louw.
The proud grandson also commented on the Nathaniel Julies case, adding that his grandfather would have been incredibly upset with what happened to Julies and that his murder hit closer to home because they have a family member who lives with down syndrome like Julies did.
Louw stressed the importance of the media in covering community stories, fearing that a lot of history will be lost otherwise.
“We often don’t appreciate the role of the media in capturing our stories, but a piece of history will have been forgotten had it not been for the journalists of these publications. They saw everyday heroes in our communities long before anyone else could,” said Louw.
In celebration of Sgt Louw’s 90th birthday, the family plans to exhibit the articles and other memorabilia at the Trevor Huddleston Memorial Centre later in the year. The archive is available for research purposes upon request.
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