Thabong police academy outshines the rest

SAPS Thabong Academy was awarded with a floating trophy

The South African Police Service (SAPS) Thabong Academy emerged victorious in this year’s annual inter-culture contest, with its portrayal of a cultural wedding, last Friday.

The five Thabong Cluster Stations; Bronville, Hennenman, Meloding, Virginia and Ventersburg  including Cluster office and units such as Local Criminal Record Centre, K9, Crime Intelligence Gathering (CIG) and Public Order Policing (POP) as well as SAPS Thabong Academy did their research and displayed the wedding theme beautifully.

The cultural contest serves as an annual bonding exercise for the different SAPS units, and was hosted by SAPS Thabong Cluster, at Uniepark Stadium in Hennenman.

The theme was displayed in song, dance and drama with Ventersburg rendering the item in Sepedi, SAPS Thabong Academy in Isindebele, Hennenman in Isixhosa, Meloding in IsiZulu and SAPS Thabong Cluster and Units in Sesotho, Bronville in Tsonga and Virginia in SiSwati.

According to police spokesperson, Warrant Officer Malebo Khosana, Thabong SAPS was supposed to display Setswana but they withdrew at the eleventh hour.

“Every year we try to engage the different SAPS in an activity that will not only form a stronger bond among the members, but also teach the officers about the different cultures they deal with within a community. We find that over the years these activities also help the officers to relate better and understand their community,” said Khosana.

The judges of the event were Aubrey Mofolo of The Rock FM, Habi Masodisa from the department of education and Habi Ramolahloane, with Bambino Modupe of the The Rock FM as programme director.

“As the Free State is the centre of South Africa it was amazing to see almost all the country’s cultures being represented. The research done by all the units was good and  the portrayal was perfect.  However, there are those who displayed weddings better than the rest,” said Mofolo.

As the winners, SAPS Thabong Academy was awarded with a floating trophy and another trophy to keep. Ventersburg SAPS received a trophy for coming second while Hennenman took home the third spot.  Meloding took the fourth place, Bronville was number five and Virginia came last at the sixth place.

Captain Mojalefa Moeketsi thanked the participants on behalf of Thabong Cluster Commander Major General Lerato Molale who could not attend the event due to other work commitments.

“We have diverse cultures within our organisation and the community at large. We have a duty to serve communities and we must know their cultures,” said Moeketsi.