Constable decorated for off-duty bravery
CONSTABLE Phumlani Zondi was on his way to the Chatsworth SAPS College on a day off last year when he witnessed a hijacking in process.
He was approaching Chatsworth Centre when he saw armed men stopping a truck and threatening the driver.
“I had no gun on me at the time but I knew I had to do my job,” he said, adding that he had stopped his car, alerted colleagues and then called the robbers’ bluff, telling them he was armed.
“They started firing shots at me the instant I told them who I was.
“I was relieved when they started shooting at me because it meant they had shifted their focus from the driver and knowing that he was safe for that moment made me happy,” Zondi told POST.
“When they realised that I was not shooting back, I heard them coming closer.”
But police reinforcements arrived in the nick of time and apprehended the suspects.
Zondi, who recovered an unlicensed firearm from the suspects’ car, was commended for his bravery on Friday.
He said he had joined the police force in 2007 and so far the most difficult part of his job was when he arrived at a crime scene and people didn’t let him and his colleagues do their job.
Or when they scolded police when they arrived late, even calling them “useless”.
“Sometimes we get to a crime scene to find that people have tampered with the evidence.
“We understand their anger at certain situations but touching that person lying on the road is tampering with evidence and people need to understand that,” he said.
The other thing he objected to was people taking the law into their own hands.
“People need to understand that it is not up to them to serve justice. Let the system deal with the perpetrator.
“By organising a mob and going to kill that criminal, you turning yourself to a criminal with blood on your hands,” he said. “Let the police do their job.”
The recently married oThongathi (Tongaat) resident said he had always wanted to wear the blue uniform and serve his country.
He aspires to become a station commander one day and said he was honoured to receive his medal as it encouraged him to be a good, loyal policeman man – on and off duty.
“Knowing that you helped save a life not only gives you medals, but you sleep better at night and police recruits need to know that,” he said.