Everson Luhanga
The new deputy head of the Hawks says she has been offered bribes many times in her career – and has always arrested anyone trying to influence her.
After a 32-year career in the police, Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili is now Deputy National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, otherwise known as the Hawks.
In her career as a detective and a cop, Mosikili says there have been times where suspects offered her money to drop cases.
“It is a dangerous trap to fall into. Once one starts taking bribes from suspects it becomes hard to get out of that trap.
“My successful career as a detective and an officer has never put me in a position where I was enticed to take bribes. Instead, I arrest those who offer bribes to me,” she said
Mosikili said women are often perceived as having got higher positions by “engaging in sexual activity which is a perception that is undermining women in general and is intolerable.
“It never happened to me. It is degrading and cannot be acceptable at all. Anything that I have achieved in my three decades career has been through hard work and passion.”
Mosikili said she joined the South African police service in 1989 because she had a passion for the force. “As a child, I always wanted to be a cop.
“I had that passion of serving people, especially the vulnerable. Many cases of ordinary citizens were not taken seriously. It was heart-breaking for me,” she said.
She started out at the Community Service Centre, then as a court orderly, moving on to the Child Protection Unit where she was investigated sexual offences, domestic violence and crimes against minors. “While solving sexual offences cases, I would also help some complainants especially women and children with shelter if the place they were staying at was toxic for them.
“I would sometimes take them to my private home while investigating their cases.
She said she used to receive many letters from the community members, courts and families complimenting her for the hard work on cases she had worked on. “The comments and letters motivated me to do even better.”
She said through her hard work, General Mosikili kept on rising in the ranks of the police working as a station commander and holding a strong rank in the force. I now oversee investigations involving high profile cases and high profile people.
“It is one of my best moments in my career,” she said.
