Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Newcastillian News was Invited to join police officers on Tuesday morning 22 November 2022 at the Madadeni SAPS Station. Whereby 13 officers from Newcastle, Madadeni, Osizweni, Dannhauser, Ingogo, Charlestown, Utrecht, Kingsley, Normandien, Hattingspruit and Groenvlei were promoted.
Amajuba District SAPS Commissioner, General Fred Alexander said, “As District Commissioner, I am humbled at seeing the officers being elevated to their current positions. What is important, is that the members are recognised for their discipline, carrying out their duties in truthfulness and their patriotism of ensuring stability within the Amajuba District.”
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He further added that the promoted officers had been with the SAPS for several years, tirelessly working within the community, despite the challenges faced during their daily duties.
While General Alexander showed intense pride in the officers, he and Newcastle SAPS Station Commander, Brigadier Mvuleni Sangweni, highlighted that the promoted members were now tasked with the daunting challenge of enforcing discipline within their ranks.
“We must remember that it is a privilege to be promoted, a privilege that not many enjoy. While there are more commissioned officers today as in the former years, one thing that we lack today that was not an issue in the past, is discipline,” Brigadier Sangweni highlighted.
With this in mind, he emphasised that it was now the responsibility of the promoted officers to ensure that discipline was improved within their respective stations. “You must all take pride in your badges, and instil discipline. The community must get better service from us all,” he stressed.
Colonel Flip Claassens, Head of the Newcastle Detectives, was one of the officers promoted on Tuesday.
Previously a Lieutenant Colonel, the newly promoted Col Claassens pointed out that as a high school child, he had originally worked at Checkers, initially not giving much thought to joining the police.
“However, I did extremely bad in the first two terms of matric and my school principal said I must choose between school and Checkers. I chose school and after matriculating, I gave thought on what I wanted to do with my life and signed up to join a mine, the South African Defence Force and the South African Police Service. The police called me first and I signed up, and that was 38 years ago,” explained Col Claassens.
As the head of the local Detectives, he highlighted that he loves his career, finding immense joy in bringing hardened criminals to book and profiling them to establish if they were linked to other crimes. Dedicated to his position at the Newcastle SAPS, Col Claassen said he was elated about his promotion.
Lieutenant Colonel Sicelo Chapi from the Newcastle Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit was another local officer to get the bump from the title of Captain to Lieutenant Colonel.
As the Commander of the FCS Unit, Lt Col Chapi emphasised that he was overjoyed with his promotion, as it reflected the work that he had put into his career.
“I have been with the SAPS for 29 years, of which I have been with the FCS Unit for 18 years. I joined the SAPS because I always knew that I wanted to protect children and protect the community at large,” he said.
While being committed to his work, Lt Col Chapi highlighted that working within the FCS Unit was not always an easy task. “One of the hardest things is seeing children aged two and under being raped, and them not being able to identify the culprits. But it brings me and my team great satisfaction in bringing perpetrators to book. For me, it is rewarding being able to see someone be able to continue with their lives because of what my team and I have done,” he concluded.
With the officers beaming with pride, Newcastillian News congratulates you all. The team looks forward to reporting on your successes—make us all proud.
What is your take on this all? Share your views and messages in the comment section below.
Qlso at the Newcastle POP they had promotions too, they work hand in hand with all those mentioned stations. They also deserved to be praised too.