​​Many might know Thembelihle Mkosi (34) as a dedicated officer of the law, but to an eight-year-old girl, he will always be remembered as someone who made a lasting impression for his act of kindness. The two met on a cold morning in May and shortly thereafter a heartwarming post circulated on social media. This is after the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department officer bought new school shoes for the little girl after noticing her old ones were torn and she’s almost walking barefoot.

Soon after JMPD Acting Chief of Police Angie Mokasi commended Thembelihle for his generous gesture.

“Good gestures like the one the Officer Mkosi displayed are never taught, instead this good deed was done from the kindness of the heart, and that is truly commendable,” Mokasi said at the time.

Seeing the little girl took Thembelihle back to his own childhood.

He grew up in Mount Frere, Eastern Cape, with his grandfather and mother.

His mother left him to study teaching. He and his siblings were in the care of their grandfather.

As the eldest of four siblings, he says he always had it in him that he has to help his mother and siblings if he can.

“I also had to walk to school barefoot. The young girl reminded me of my younger self. She had shoes on her feet, but it was as if she was walking barefoot because the back of the shoe was open,” he says.

“When I got to her school, she was happy and ran to me. I think she knew I had bought her shoes. She was excited to have the new shoes.”

He says they were destined to meet on the day. It was his first time directing traffic on the corner of Von Wielligh and Pritchard streets in the inner city where he was deployed during morning peak traffic.

He is a firm believer of what he calls “God’s work”. When you are destined to cross someone’s path, God will make it happen, he says.

“Being a JMPD officer is a true definition of a peace officer. It’s all about awareness about the public and safety.”

Thembelihle joined the JMPD’s training programme in 2017 and qualified in 2019. He initially joined because of unemployment, but he has been enjoying every moment in the force.

He takes great pride in wearing his uniform.

“I love interacting with people and helping where I can.”

His duties include enforcing bylaws, crime prevention and traffic law enforcement. One of his favourite responsibilities is traffic control.