Johannesburg – The SA Police Service (SAPS) has announced the appointments of the new provincial commissioner of Gauteng and the divisional commissioner, responsible for visible policing and operations.
Speaking on Friday night, National Commissioner General Sehlahle Fannie Masemola said: “I would like to take this opportunity to announce that Major General Tommy Mthombeni who has been acting as the Gauteng Provincial Commissioner in the last month, is now appointed in the post of Gauteng Provincial Commissioner, at the rank of Lieutenant General”.
General Masemola also announced the appointment of Major General Maropeng Johanna Mamothethi as the new Divisional Commissioner of Visible Policing and Operations.
He said Major General Mamothethi has been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General.
Both appointments were effective from 1 March 2024.
General Masemola said the appointments were critical in ensuring the deployment of capacity and resources in the execution of our mandate as enshrined in Section 205 of the Constitution of SA.
“This will bolster our efforts to heighten police visibility in our communities towards preventing, combating, and investigating crime and ultimately putting perpetrators to justice,” he said.
Lieutenant General Mthombeni, the new provincial commissioner of Gauteng joined the SAPS ranks in 1986 and has 37 years of service.
He has held several senior positions including that of cluster commander and district commissioner of Tshwane.
He was the station commander of Jabulani Police Station in Soweto and the station commander of Pretoria Central Police Station in Tshwane.
Lieutenant General Mthombeni holds a National Diploma in Police Administration, and a National Higher Diploma in Policing, and a Masters Degree in Public Administration.
He has been instrumental and a key figure in developing and implementing crime-combatting strategies to reduce levels of crime in the province.
“We have full confidence that he will continue to lead and contribute to ensuring that serious and violent crimes in this economic hub are dealt a blow,” said General Masemola.
Lieutenant General Mamothethi, the new divisional commissioner of visible policing and operations, brings to the position a wealth of experience in the visible policing environment.
She has 28 years of service and holds a Diploma in Policing, a B-tech degree in policing, and a Bachelor of Commerce in Human Resource Management.
Lieutenant General Mamothethi has served as a deputy provincial commissioner for support services in the Northern Cape.
She also served as the component head for social crime prevention, where she was responsible for enhancing partnership policing programmes.
In addition, she was responsible for ensuring we heighten our response to GBVF and enhance our awareness campaigns in response to youth substance abuse, amongst others.
As the component head of Firearms, Liquor, and Second-Hand Goods, she was instrumental in reducing the backlog in firearm licensing and firearms amnesty applications by 94%.
The effective management of the amnesty applications reduced the number of illegal firearms in circulation in the country.
Since April 2022, Lieutenant General Mamothethi has overseen the destruction of more than 72 000 firearms that were voluntarily surrendered to the state and confiscated during crime-combatting operations across the country.
General Masemola said: “The appointment and filling of these critical vacancies are of chief importance in the organisation and forms part of my strategy to create and sustain an environment that will ensure a fully capacitated and functional police service that responds to the needs of our communities”.
