A ZIMBABWEAN national is serving four life sentences in South Africa after being convicted of 31 counts of violent crimes, rape, attempted murder, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, house breaking with intent to rape and robbery.
BY OWN CORRESPONDENT
David Mamvura, who is serving another 259 years in jail, was aged 27 in 2014 when he committed the crimes around the Polokwane area of South Africa’s Limpopo province, which shares the same border with Matabeleland South in Zimbabwe.
His case came under spotlight this week when South African Police Services (Saps) was recognising a female Detective Constable Mokhepho Vivian Gafane (37) of Saps for her sterling investigative work.
Honoured during the women’s month, which is and celebrated in South Africa, Gafane’s exploits in her job were the pride of the Limpopo province where she works.
“In one of her milestone chievements, Detective Constable Gafane, through her sterling investigative skills, successfully secured a consolidation of 259 years imprisonment and four life terms meted against a Zimbabwean national, David Mamvura aged 27,” Limpopo province police spokesperson Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe, said.
Mamvura is one of the many Zimbabweans who crossed the border into South Africa to commit crimes and a number of Zimbabweans have been identified in cash-in-transit heists rocking the country’s southern neighbour.
Gafane, a career cop, followed her childhood dream after growing up in her crime-ridden village of Nobody at Ga-Kgoshi Mothapo near Mankweng, outside Polokwane.
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“These crime incidents propelled her to join the South African Police Service in Mankweng in 2010,” Ngoepe said.
Gafane is said to have solved 20 violent and serious crimes, securing five life sentences, including Mamvura’s four life terms.
Gafane, in her remarks, said she was driven by hate of crime although working in a male-dominated arena presented challenges.
“Working in a male-dominated environment, was at first difficult, especially when dealing with dangerous criminals, but I had to adjust quickly because I hate criminality. I have this firm believe that as a human being, I am capable of doing anything that our male counterparts are doing,” Gafane remarked.
