Blessed with an angelic voice, Captain Mthembeni Xaba is also an angel to children who have been victims of sexual and violent crimes.
As a Forensic Social Worker at the Dundee Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit, Capt Xaba is tasked with working closely with child victims. In many cases where a child has been raped or abused, the child can’t always explain what has happened to them.
Capt Xaba’s job is to see whether the child is ready for court and whether they need an intermediary to talk to them if they can’t open up to other detectives. Using specialized dolls, Capt Xaba gets the child to show him what happened to them. Hailing from Sibizane Location, a deep rural area in Ixopo, Capt Xaba received his Bachelor of Arts in Social Science on his way to becoming a social worker.
However, growing up, all he wanted to do was be a singer. In Grade 5 a teacher asked the class to sing a song and it was then that Capt Xaba found his passion for singing. As his talents grew, he continued to sing and helped found the choir at the University of Zululand. He now uses his musical gifts to assist the congregation of the Roman Catholic Church. “God gave me a talent and I want to use it to teach others.” He wants to use his talent in the future to teach youngsters. While extremely passionate about singing, Capt Xaba is also passionate about helping put criminals behind bars.
After serving as a social worker in Loskop, Estcourt, Capt Xaba then moved to Dundee where he worked as a Probation Officer at the Department of Social Development. His job required him to deal with children who were in trouble with the law. As a result, he worked closely with police, joining them when he got the chance, becoming part of the FCS unit.
“You need to be mentally and emotionally strong to do this job. It’s a challenge for all of us at the unit but using our skills, we work together to do it,” he said.
“It’s not just child protection week that the little ones need to be protected, it should be every day of the year. We are trying by all means to remove these criminals, who prey on small children, from society,” he added.
Capt Xaba also explained how extremely proud detectives were when they secured convictions. He also gets very proud, helping put a smile back on children’s faces.
With every criminal put behind bars, Capt Xaba is slowly making the country a better place.
