Above and beyond

POLICE work is very challenging, stressful and sometimes tests a police officer’s resolve. Quite often our men and women in blue get criticised for laziness and shoddy service, and rightly so.

But there are exceptions: when officers at the forefront of fighting crime go beyond the call of duty to serve. They are deserving of our support and respect. One such officer is Eugene Bathandwa Kutwana, a detective at Harare police station in Khayelitsha.

As we report today, on June 1 a Khayelitsha mother, Ntombekhaya Mbutho, was left devastated when her young son and niece were killed in a fire which destroyed their home. The following day, a distraught Mbutho was accompanied to the police station by her employer to arrange the mortuary, death certificates and to prepare for the funeral.

While at Harare police station, Kutwana, who was off duty at the time, understood the empathy needed and took complete control of the situation. He went beyond the call of duty to help a grieving mother with everything she needed to do. He even went as far as to arrange social workers to counsel her and her family.

What Kutwana did gave meaning to the clarion call President Cyril Ramaphosa gave in his State of the Nation address earlier this year, when he urged all South Africans to step forward and help make this country better.

We can all learn from Kutwana when he says “I wanted to make a difference and be part of the change in this country”.

Many of his colleagues and other public servants should follow his example. Officers like him help to restore people’s confidence in the police service and make fighting crime an easier task.

Mbutho summed it up when she said: “We have never encountered such interaction from police, especially in the day and age we live in. He certainly is a good officer and we pray he continues to assist others with the same humility he assisted us with.”

We invite all Cape Argus readers to join us as we salute Kutwana and police officers like him. They are an asset to the public service and the country. What they do goes a long way to repair the image of a profession regularly tarnished by a handful of rotten apples.