Meet Sheppie’s new station commanders

TWO new brigadiers and a captain were sworn in at the Port Shepstone police station recently.

Station commander, Brigadier Sandra Nala, has a lot of experience in the policing environment and has already won the respect and admiration of her officers.

Brigadier Nala started her police career in 1987 and completed her basic training at Hammanskraal Police Academy. Soon afterwards she was appointed as a constable and was the only woman serving at Langa SAPS in Durban.

In 1996 she became a sergeant. While working as a shift commander at the SAPS at the airport, she was promoted to warrant officer.

In 2003 she was promoted to captain and took up a post as Vispol commander at Sea Borders in Richards Bay. In 2005 she became a superintendent and was a relief commander in the CSC, where her expertise won her the award as best relief commander at the station.

The KZN Airwing was her next stop and, in 2007, she took up the post of  provincial commander of the Airwing where her focus was on marketing the wing. Prior to being appointed station commander of Port Shepstone, a post she took up on September 1, she was station commander at KwaDabeka, where she built up a good relationship between the police and the community.

Apart from concentrating on the reduction of crime in Port Shepstone, her main focus for now will be on the detective department.

Brigadier Nala aims to uplift the engagement between the detectives and the community, especially the complainants and victims in criminal cases.

Brigadier Bongani Sibiya, the new deputy commander of Ugu cluster, is well known both in the local community and further afield. He took up his post on August 1.

Brigadier Sibiya started his policing career as a student in 1988 and became a constable in Port Shepstone in 1989. In 1994 he was promoted to warrant officer and, in 1997, to captain. In 2000 he was promoted again, to superintendent, and in 2010 to the rank of colonel.

During 1995 and 1996 he was tasked with the investigation of riot-related and violent crimes. From 2003 until 2005 he served at the Crime Intelligence Gathering Unit at the area commissioner’s office in Umzimkhulu.

In 2005 he was tasked with Crime Prevention Unit duties under the provincial office.

In 2007 he was stationed at the Margate detective branch and was transferred to Port Shepstone detective branch where he served as commander until he was appointed to his current post.

Brigadier Sibiya will be assisting the cluster commander of Ugu cluster, Major-General Sethenya Agnes Nxamagele, in the Vispol and detective environment in the cluster.

Captain Wikus van Schalkwyk is the new commander of the Port Shepstone Auxiliary Police garage at Izotsha. He enrolled at the police training college in Pretoria in 1992. From there he underwent six weeks of  riot control training at Verdrag.

He was attached to unit 19, but was later posted to unit 23 at Vereeniging Internal Stability Unit, (now Public Order Policing).

After a year he was transferred to Krugersdorp, where he also served in the Internal Stability Unit. In 2000 he transferred to the police garage. He completed his trade test in 2003 in Olifantshoek and was then appointed as a technical advisor in 2004.

In 2007 he was appointed as an investigator and assessing officer, involved in the testing of vehicles.

In 2010 he moved to the Carletonville police garage where he later took up duties as commander.

He was appointed commander at the Roodepoort police garage in 2014,  a post he held until his current appointment at Port Shepstone Auxiliary Police garage.

Captain van Schalkwyk and his team are responsible for servicing and maintaining the police fleet of the Ugu cluster as well assisting with police vehicles from Harry Gwala (Kokstad area) and the Eastern Cape.