Together in blue
PARKVIEW – The Gazette caught up with some determined women police officers who shared the joys and triumphs of being a women in a male-dominated profession.
Women can do everything they set their minds to, is the message policewomen of the Parkview Police Station want to give the community in recognition of August, Women’s Month.
Sergeant Khumbulani Tshabalala puts on her blue uniform with determination each day. Since joining the Parkview Police Station 13 years ago, she has worked hard and overcome many challenges. She is determined to work her way up the ranks ‘to be at the top’, just as she has worked her way up from Constable to Sergeant.
Tshabalala works with communication- and information-related projects, mostly related to IT, and consolidates this for the community and police leadership. This is an important position and one she doesn’t take lightly. From her desk at the information centre at the station, she said she believed that woman could be anything they wanted to be when they chose not to fear challenges but to face these head on.
She said she had witnessed the progression of police communication systems through the years. “Change can be a challenge, as it has been this past year with Covid-19. However, one needs to keep moving forward. If you are afraid, how can you go forward?” she added.
Constable Sylvia Bentshu said she had learned from a young age, from her mom, that women have a significant role to play in the community. She works at the Customer Service Centre and said she had always wanted to be a policewoman. “As a little girl, I saw my mother, who was a police officer for 35 years, in Limpopo, getting ready for work each day. She made us so proud in her uniform, and I knew this was what I wanted to do,” she added.
Bentshu is now studying to further her career as a police officer. “Some think I am too soft to be in the police force, but it is my empathy which makes me good at what I do.”
Station Commander Colonel Theledi Zacharia Gopane said Women’s Month was a time to celebrate the unique contribution women made. “Their presence at our station means a lot, and we want to acknowledge them for all they do for us as police and as a community.” He stood alongside Bentshu and Tshabalala for a photo – like-minded police officers focused on a single cause, crime fighting and prevention.
