As the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women & Children Campaign commences, the South African Police Service (SAPS) deemed it fit to pay gratitude to detectives in the Family Violence, Child Protection, and Sexual Offences Investigations (FCS) as well as the detectives within the Serial and Electronic FCS Crime Investigations (SECI) whose efforts often go unnoticed for contributing to a much better and safer South Africa.
Today, we introduce the nation to 38-year-old Sergeant Abram Kgosana. This specialized detective has 15 years’ service having joined the organization in 2006.
Born and bred in Hamanskraal, the member is attached to the Temba Police Station FCS Unit.
On a daily basis, detectives in these specialized units are charged with the responsibility of putting perpetrators of crimes against women, children, and vulnerable groups behind bars. They work tirelessly in investigating, tracking, and arresting sexual predators. They are also instrumental in investigating Gender-Based-Violence (GBV) related cases.
It was in 2013 while Sergeant Kgosana was working as a court orderly where he grew an interest in assisting GBV victims. From 2013 to date he has successfully secured at least 16 life sentences and an additional 279 years in prison for seven serial rapists that were terrorizing women, children, and vulnerable groups in the areas of Temba, Soshanguve, and Winterveld.
One of the GBV survivors that were assisted by Sergeant Kgosana, twenty-six-year-old Nthabiseng Khoza who was raped in 2016 while walking home by convicted serial rapist Benjamin Bapela says she will forever be grateful to detectives such as Sergeant Kgosana for ensuring that justice prevails. Bapela had been terrorizing women in the Temba area before his reign of terror came to an end after Sergeant Kgosana linked him to several rape cases. Bapela was sentenced to three life sentences and an additional 25 years’ imprisonment.
“Sergeant Kgosana gave me the willpower to survive and wake up daily. I had already given up and wasn’t sure if my attacker would ever go to jail. Throughout the case, Sergeant Kgosana was very supportive and kept me updated on the progress of the case. I would like to say thank you to Sergeant Kgosana, for all that he did for me and all the other women”, said rape survivor – Nthabiseng Khoza.
With years of experience in solving GBV related cases, Sergeant Kgosana has given the following advice to all people living in South Africa.
“I would like to request all people in South Africa to be careful at all times and to assess the risk in every situation that you may find yourself in and act accordingly in time should you believe that you are exposed to any form of danger. In closing, I would like to assure the citizens of this country, that they are not alone in the fight against GBV, the SAPS and the government is striving towards creating a safe and secure environment for all women, children and vulnerable groups”, said Sergeant Abram Kgosana
The FCS unit boasts 176 units nationwide and nine Serial and Electronic Crime FCS Investigation Units based at Provincial Offices across the country.