Mpumalanga cop loses her own child after acting as midwife at station

Sergeant Itumeleng Motalane, the 35-year-old mother of four and police officer, was hailed last month after acting as a midwife during an emergency birth situation.

According to Saps, Motalane responded to an emergency when she found a heavily pregnant Congolese woman screaming in agony due to labour pains at the police station’s doorstep. She was accompanied by her husband and sister and was about to give birth.

Motalane bravely assisted the woman there and then, joined by her colleague, Constable Tilane Lebitsa. The two women helped successfully deliver the baby in front of the offices, cut and clamped the cord.

Motalane used Google to learn how to cut a cord and tie it. “After sourcing information, I then had to rush to the CSC to search for something to tie it. Luckily I got a shoelace which I sanitised and tied the umbilical cord.”

She assisted the woman to give birth to her fourth child and now grieves the death of her eldest of four children.

According to Standerton Chronicle, her son passed away in Ermelo hospital after being admitted for health complications on 3 May, just 14 days after her heroism.

Motalane had just reported for duty when the birth incident happened. It is unknown what would have happened if she was not present. In her official statement, she said: “I had my male colleagues in the Community Service Centre and they told me that I was the only one to help the woman deliver her baby.”

Applauding their work, the acting police provincial commissioner in Mpumalanga Major-General Thulani Phahla said: “Police are often faced with strange and difficult situations but what we have realised is they are always equal to the task.”

Phahla has extended his deepest condolences to Motalane and his family. “May they find courage and strength to move forward in peace knowing that the Saps family in Mpumalanga is with them during this trying and hard time,” he said.