The Vhembe Police’s Serious and Violent Crime Unit was awarded R5 000 by the MEC for Security, Safety and Liaison, Machwene Semenya, after recovering human body parts of ritual murder victims, Maanda Sendedza of Makonde village and an unidentified 40-year-old man, whose mutilated body was discovered at Mafukani village in 2004.

The Vhembe Police were nominated as the Best Serious and Violent Crime Unit during the fourth Police Service Delivery Excellence Awards held at Meropa Entertainment Centre, Polokwane, on Friday night. The Vhembe Police also scooped the award for Best Public Order Police Unit in the province and walked away with another cheque of R5 000.

Sgt Nndanduleni Mulangaphuma from the Mphephu SAPS received the award for Best Police Reservist and won R2 000. Mulangaphuma has shown dedication since his appointment in 2000 and he is always available to assist in special operations. He was also commended for his good reaction time to complaints.

Insp Danny Mamadisa, who prevented 21 suicides last year, won the category for Best Hostage Negotiator and received a cheque of R2 000. Mamadisa is the Provincial Coordinator for Hostage Negotiators in the Limpopo province and he has been selected to assist the National Hostage Negotiation Team, Task Force and Defense Force, during multi-operational simulations on national level.

MEC Semanya said the introduction of the awards has assisted a great deal in ensuring that the quality of service rendered to clients by 92 police stations in the province is improved. She said the award ceremony also afforded the government an opportunity to acknowledge good initiatives that contribute to crime prevention and effective investigation at local level. She further added that the assessment process had opened a channel of interaction to assist police stations to identify service delivery gaps and possible remedial actions.

She continued: “It is through initiatives such as this that our people can notice service delivery improvement and transformation of the police service. The Police Service Delivery Excellence Award Ceremony has continually formed a strong base for commitment by members to service delivery. I would like to appeal to members of the community to join hands with the police and other law enforcement agencies to fight crime and make Limpopo a better place to live. I am hopeful that every member of the SAPS in Limpopo and other stakeholders will play a meaningful role in the war against crime…”

MEC Semenya further said the fight against crime can only be won if members and management of the SAPS join hands and work as a unit to turn over the image of the institution. “Changing the image of the institution that was not meant to serve the community in the real sense should be regarded as a challenge which cannot be addressed overnight. This includes ensuring that every police official takes their responsibilities seriously. It involves ensuring that members of the community are served with dignity and respect. I would like to congratulate all who received awards this evening because we can confidently say they are shining examples of members keen to work hard to make a difference in the lives of thousands of people we serve. These members and police stations are ambassadors of Transformed Government Service and they deserve to be commended for their commitment in putting into practice the principles of Batho Pele.”

The Best Individual Category was won by Insp FC van Wyk, who was crowned the Best Diver in the province. He received a cheque of R2 000. Van Wyk was a supervisor for 40 drowning incidents last year and he ably assisted at gruesome scenes of body recoveries in the province.

The highlight of the function was when the MEC awarded Nebo Police Station for the category of Best Police Station in the province. The station was presented with a cheque of R40 000 and two trophies, one of which is floating.

Some of the categories awarded during the function and their respective winners are: Best Stock Theft Unit (Polokwane – R5 000), Best Border Police Unit (Beit Bridge – R5 000), Best Community Policing Forum (Tshilwavhusiku – R3 000 and cellphone from Cell C).