As the country observes women’s month, the South African Police Service (SAPS) joins the nation in celebrating its women in blue who are breaking barriers and blazing a path in their daily duties towards making South Africa a much safer and better place to live in.

In a statement on Monday, the SAPS introduced the nation to the Divisional Commissioner for Visible Policing and Operations, Lieutenant General Maropeng Johanna Mamotheti.

Mamotheti has 36 years of service having joined the organisation in 1987 as a student constable.

She was promoted to the rank of a Lieutenant General as a Divisional Commissioner for Visible Policing and Operations on 01 March 2024 where she is responsible for providing strategic leadership and management to ensure effective combating of crime prevention. This is through the provision of visible policing and operation services.

She leads and manages more than 19 000 members who are responsible for visible policing, including Operational Response Services (ORS) units such as t
he Public Order Policing (POP) unit, Tactical Response Teams (TRT), Counter Assault Team(CAT) and the Special Task Force (STF).

The Border Policing Unit which is responsible for securing the country’s land, sea and airports also fall under her command.

The Mobile Operations Unit which is responsible for securing of precious metals and minerals also falls under her command.

Before she was promoted to this role this year, she served in various positions within the SAPS, including the Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Support Services in the Northern Cape and also served as the Component Head for Social Crime Prevention where she was responsible for enhancing partnership policing programmes.

She also served as the Component Head of Firearms, Liquor and Second-Hand Goods (FLASH) at Head Office.

Under her command, the component managed to reduce the backlog in firearm licensing and firearms amnesty applications by 94%.

In the 2021/2022 financial year, she oversaw the finalisation of more than 531 000 firear
ms related applications. The effective management of the amnesty applications reduced the number of illegal firearms in circulation in the country.

In this role, she has also overseen the destruction of more than 263 000 firearms that were voluntarily surrendered to the state and confiscated during crime combatting operations across the country.

‘The focus of our operations is to remove illegal firearms of our streets. We are seizing firearms on a weekly basis and our goal is to ensure we make the country a safer place to live in. Firearms are the most preferred weapon when violent crime is committed and that is why we must intensify our operations in this regard,’ she said.

Mamotheti holds a Diploma in Policing, a BTech degree in Policing and a Bachelor of Commerce in Human Resource Management.

Source: South African Government News Agency