When an 80-year-old man was recently stranded next to the road with a flat tyre, two off-duty police members came to his rescue.
Lt. Col Thabo Litabe, corporate communication officer of the police, said there are still police members who go the extra mile in ensuring that citizens are and feel safe.
When Charles Compaan (80) from Griquatown was stranded with a flat tyre next to the N8 route between Griquatown and Campbell last week, he struggled to remove a cable tie that secured the wheel cap as he did not have a knife with him.
He was surprised to be approached by two complete strangers. In this case Col Kholakele Sontsi and his colleague, Const. Veronique Magerman, both attached to the Public Order Policing (POP) unit.
They were returning from a Women’s Month event when they saw the elderly man next to his vehicle. They made a U-turn and offered their assistance.
Sontsi assisted in cutting the cable tie, and also changed the flat tyre.
“Those wheel nuts were so tightly screwed in. I don’t think that the old man would have succeeded to unscrew it himself. I was also having a challenge to remove the nuts, but I managed to,” said Sontsi.
When asked about the ordeal, Compaan had nothing but praise for the two members.
“They were both neatly dressed but did not worry about it as their only quest was to assist me. All that I am asking from the police managers is that they look after such members as it is no longer the norm to come across police officers of such calibre in South Africa. I wish them well in their future,” he said.
