With crime in Gauteng region soaring, Gauteng Traffic Police (GTP) and Principal Inspector under the Saturation Unit Ludweg Mahlwele (54), is committed to create a safer Gauteng.
Mahlwele is a professional and dedicated officer who is revered by many within the ranks of law enforcement due to his diligent work and passion to face criminals head on in the taxi industry.
Primarily borne out of his love for safety, another reason Mahlwele chose to follow a career in traffic policing is because of the opportunity it provides in making a difference in the safety of road users. “I have a passion for safety on our roads particularly given the high levels of road accidents the province continues to experience because of bad driving behaviour by taxi drivers.”
He was driven to join the traffic police due to the lawlessness the taxi industry endured in the hands of taxi drivers. “I developed an extreme passion of dealing with lawlessness within the taxi industry and being a former victim of crime myself after being hijacked twice, I then decided to make a difference by creating a conducive and safer environment for road users,” he said.
With several traffic officers being touted as unscrupulous professionals following countless reports of some of them soliciting bribes from motorists during roadblocks, Mahlwelwe, is not about corruption. He is a strict disciplinarian who is not interested in bribery and corruption. “Gauteng roads remains my precious domain, this is my treasured space where I go all out to make a difference in the lives of road users. I enforce the rule of law without fear or favour and make immediate arrest to anyone who conduct himself with impunity on Gauteng roads. It therefore gives me a great deal of accomplishment every time I make an arrest,” said Inspector Mahlwelwe.
Having being mentored by the best in the traffic safety fraternity, his career highlight is being afforded an opportunity to Head the Provincial Taxi Task Team. “I am indebted to the management of Gauteng Traffic Police for having accorded me an opportunity to head the Provincial Taxi Task team especially given the unrest in the taxi industry in recent times. I enjoy being part of the solution to deal with the infighting over routes operations by taxi associations, following up on hitmen and armed gangs in the industry, impounding unroadworthy taxis and crime prevention especially trio crime operations just to mention a few,” said Mahlwelwe.
His advice to other officers is to be open to criticism, taking directives from senior managers and to learn constantly. “I encourage our officers to make use of learning platforms that encourage interaction with peers as they are a valuable resource. At the end of the day we have the same collective goal”.
He had quite a roller-coaster experience over the years. The day-to-day work of a traffic officer is open to potential dangers. “As an officer, there are people out there who are willing to inflict pain or harm on the police at any given opportunity especially if you are seen to be standing in their way. The challenge is that you never know the kind of person you are dealing with, therefore, every single citizen’s interaction comes with a tremendous amount of risk of being assaulted or killed,” said Mahlwelwe.
Mahlwele has always been persistent in following up on information and he never loses hope. He has twice been a victim of hijackers in the early years of his career. This, according to him, was one of the tests which he had to endure during the early days of his career. “I believe that it was all part of the test. If I did not have the passion for this job I would have thrown in the towel a long time ago,” added Mahlwelwe.
He has had successful cases such as one in Groblerdal, where he raided two suspects for car hijacking. One suspect is now serving six years behind bars and his accomplice died during his arrest.
Although his work is based in Gauteng, due to his devotion, he arrested three suspects for a murder of a female school principal in Limpopo. The suspects were charged with murder, robbery, rape and car theft and are each serving two life sentences and fifteen years respectively in jail.
“These are some of the many cases I accomplished as an officer. I have also made several arrests during drunk driving operations, car hijacking, taxi violence and many more. On one occasion in Pretoria, I single-handedly stopped a vehicle arrested dangerous criminals who were involved in an armed robbery,” he said.
When asked about an advice he would give to aspirant traffic police officers, Mahlwelwe said they must be mentally and physically strong, hardworking, vigilant and courageous individuals who have passion for the job.
(Edited by: Johanna Molokomme)
