Park Road police officer, Cholofelo Taba, tells OFM News the march which was organised in close collaboration with the Performing Arts Centre of the Free State (PACOFS) and the Pick n Pay at the Loch Logan Waterfront. It is aimed at reaching out to ordinary women in society, especially those who are being abused, to remind them that women in uniform empathise with the challenges they face daily. 

Taba says police officers are also mothers, wives, girlfriends, and sisters. They too are at risk of being attacked and violated. She says there is an assumption that female police officers re-victimise the victims of gender-based violence when they report the crime, in part due to their profession. She maintains this is untrue - female officers are just as vulnerable to gender-based violence. 

Pacofs’ Tselane Monareng echoes these sentiments, adding that the march is directed at bringing women of different professions together to share their experiences. Park Road Cluster head, Khothatso Ramokotjo, is amongst the small group of speakers that are expected to address women today.

On 29 March 2019, a woman in uniform, correctional officer Nomsa Stuurman, was violently killed while her unnamed colleague was raped in a hostage situation that played out at the Goedemoed Prison in the Free State. The gruesome attack was carried out by prisoner Jongikhaya Samsam, who managed to access Stuurman’s office as he was a cleaner at the prisoner.

Reports indicate he attacked the deceased with a hammer first, before stabbing her to death with a pair of scissors. In early November, more than seven months since the gruesome attack, Samsam was sentenced to two life terms in prison. OFM News reported from the Bloemfontein High Court, that Judge President Cagney Musi said the court needed to send a strong message by removing Samsam from society permanently.

Samsam implicated a suspended official, who allegedly promised him R100 000 to kill three officials who he was not on good terms with. These officials included Stuurman.

OFM News