Pretoria – The South African Police Service (SAPS) today introduces readers to a young female police officer from Limpopo, who is putting hundreds of Gender Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) perpetrators behind bars.
Sergeant Glender Mathebula is an investigator attached to the Family Violence, Child Protection, and Sexual Offences Investigations (FCS) Unit in Tzaneen, Limpopo.
Having started as a crime prevention officer, Sergeant Mathebula felt that she wanted to do more for victims of GBVF.
She successfully made the transition from being a uniformed police officer to a detective within the FCS unit.
From 2011 to date, the young officer has secured four life imprisonment sentences and an additional 305 years for rapists in and around Limpopo.
Her stellar investigation of a case of a woman who was raped by an unknown suspect won her the Best Detective of the Year at the SAPS Limpopo Excellence Awards.
After putting pieces of a puzzle together to uncover the masked predator, who happened to be Piet Motolla from Ga-Rapitsi village, Detective Sergeant Mathebula presented herself as a potential girlfriend to the suspect.
Two months down the line, after collating enough evidence against him, she single-handedly arrested him and put him behind bars.
He was handed a term sentence in prison.
Detective Sergeant Mathebula also led the team that secured the imprisonment of Matome Ockney Seale from Lephephane village.
Seale would lure unsuspecting victims through Facebook on the pretence that he would offer them jobs at a nearby hotel in Tzaneen.
His reign of terror was put to a halt by Sgt Mathebula who cornered and arrested him, together with his female accomplice whose role was to convince women that the job offers were genuine. Seale was sentenced to 59 years in prison.
The young officer has vowed to put more perpetrators behind bars.
“I find satisfaction and fulfillment when justice is served to victims of rape and other gender-based violence,” said soft-spoken Detective Sergeant Mathebula.
“The smiles on the faces of those who were violated and the happiness of their families give me a good night’s sleep.
“I appreciate all the awards that I have received thus far but I do not work for the accolades.
“I go out to serve and protect.
“I strive to ensure that the integrity of the police as far as investigation is concerned remains intact at all times.”
*(Facts compiled by WO Winnie Mokalapa)
