The rearrest of four suspects after their escape from a police van saw Bethelsdorp Colonel Dawie Scholtz and his team scoop one of the top prizes at the annual Cluster Excellence Awards.
Scholtz and his team, who garnered the Detective Team of the Year award, were among the officers honoured at the annual celebration at Manas in Theescombe on Tuesday.
The awards, hosted by the SA Police Service, are aimed at highlighting exceptional service in categories ranging from Administration Employee of the Year to Senior Manager of the Year.
Reservists and members of the community police forums who had excelled in their duties also received awards.
Speaking about the 2017 incident which saw four suspects break out of the back of a rusted police van, Scholtz described the swift action by the policemen which resulted in the arrest of all four suspects within just hours.
“I was tasked with formulating a team to arrest the suspects who had escaped earlier.
“I chose members [police] from the different areas that the suspects were from and included some gang unit members,” Scholtz said.
“One of my informers told me they had spotted the guys so we used different methods to look for the suspects.
“We arrested the last suspect in Central in the early morning.
“They were found guilty of evading arrest and were imprisoned within two days,” Scholtz said.
The Humewood and Algoa policing clusters tied for first place, with each cluster taking four of the 12 awards, leaving Bethelsdorp with three and Mount Road with one.
Detective of the Year is Constable Ridwaan Baatjies of the Humewood cluster, who arrested a suspect for murder and had him convicted and jailed within five days.
Baatjies and Captain Bulelani Msongelwa of the Bethelsdorp cluster – who was Visible Policing Employee of the Year – will be competing in the national SAPS awards in January.
This year, Msongelwa and his community policing forum’s leader, Karen Kemp – who also won the award for CPF of the Year – organised 28 crime-awareness campaigns at schools as well as in the communities. “I have learnt that you will be extraordinary if you change your attitude and focus on your passion,” Msongelwa said.
“This is the first award I have ever received since I joined the SAPS.
“I am happy my work is being recognised.”
A category for persons with disability was won by Chris Papenfus of Mount Road, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth.
Papenfus has been working for the police for 28 years, first as a switchboard operator and now as an exhibit management officer.
He said he was honoured to receive the award.
“It is an honour to receive the award as it is setting an example for other police, especially disabled people, to work hard,” Papenfus said.
“It has not always been easy but things are looking up for disabled people.”