Our men and women in blue have been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons, with several Cape Town officers arrested for alleged extortion, the possession of illegal weapons, and even worse, murder.
South Africans would be forgiven for losing trust in the police, who are meant to protect and serve, and to bring criminals to justice – not to find themselves on the wrong side of the law.
While it is important to eliminate the bad apples in the SAPS, we must also give credit where it is due, and honour those officers who go the extra mile to keep communities safe.
One such officer is FCS Detective Warrant Officer John Tlala Mokoena, who was last week commended by the National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola for his meticulous and thorough investigation, which led to one of the country’s worst serial rapists being slapped with a heavy prison sentence.
Ekurhuleni serial rapist Nkosinathi Emmanuel Phakathi was sentenced to 42 life terms, 791 years and six months imprisonment last Friday, 4 October. The counts of which he was found guilty included rape, sexual assault, kidnapping, compelling or causing a child to witness a sexual act and theft.
Detective Mokoena was assigned to the case in 2020, and his reign of terror came to an end on the 17th of March 2021 when Mokoena and a specialised team descended on the Etwatwa area after receiving information that the serial rapist was in the area. Phakathi spent about four months under police guard in hospital after sustaining a gunshot wound while attempting to evade arrest.
Mokoena, a father of four, says he kept his promise to the victims of this serial rapist, putting him behind bars forever.
“I am doing this for the 68 young girls who were 9, 10, 12, 13 and 14- year-old at the time of these rapes, I’m also doing it for all these victims that have been hurt and traumatised by Nkosinathi Phakathi. My end goal was to bring closure to these victims who took away the innocence of these young girls. Even though what happened to them cannot be erased but they will now sleep better, knowing their rapist will spend the rest of his life in jail.”
Police commissioner Masemola praised Mokoena for keeping true to his sterling track record of excellent investigations.
”The Gauteng Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Investigations (FCS) unit detective is known for tracing, hunting down and apprehending unknown serial rapists by piecing together evidence and information from victims that ultimately leads to these perpetrators lengthy convictions behind bars.”
In fact, he has in his seventeen years of service in the police, placed 27 serial rapists behind bars.
Other notable successes for Mokoena include the sentencing of six serial rapist taxi drivers to a combined 17 life terms and more than 800 years imprisonment in the 2018/2019 financial year.
These taxi drivers would pick up commuters and the last to be dropped off, would be robbed off their monies and raped.
In 2019, he was voted and crowned the Laurette winner at the South African Police Service 6th National Excellence Awards. He is also a two times back to back recipient of the National Commissioners Special award.
General Masemola says Warrant Officer Mokoena is an example of the calibre and pocket of excellence that exists within the South African Police Service.
Masemola also thanked the NPA’s Advocate Salome Scheepers, the prosecutor in this case, for her role in securing this lengthy conviction.
Mokoena says it’s back to the drawing board, he is busy pursuing other possible serial rapists. He has vowed to do more for rape and GBVF victims.
