Angie Mokasi’s message to women City officials beyond Women’s Month is and will always be: “Grab all the opportunities that come your way. Get out of your comfort zones. Occupy spaces. If you don’t, someone else will.”
Mokasi, who has been leading the 9 000-strong Joburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) as its Acting Chief for the past 11 months, has been chasing errant motorists since 1995 when she joined the Soweto City Council as a trainee traffic officer in Nancefield, soon after completing matric.
“I saw an advert in the Sowetan and applied because my factory worker dad and my mom would certainly not afford to take me to university. I was one of three women who joined. We found another lady already qualified as a Traffic Officer.
“The reception from our male colleagues was positive. There was no intimidation, and we learned a lot from them. The only challenge was dealing with motorists, especially taxi drivers. One night on my way home after work in a patrol car, I came across a blocked road in Soweto. When I stopped and enquired, some taxi drivers got out of their vehicles and swore at me. I was able to call back-up and we cleared the road.
“When I got home, I burst out crying and told my mom I’m quitting this job. Fortunately, mothers know best. She talked me out of quitting. She told me she didn’t raise a quitter. If I wanted to leave my job, I should also leave her house in Naledi, Soweto. That took me out of my pity party quite quickly,” Mokasi laughs.
She soon rose up the ranks, including stints as a traffic reporter for Lesedi, Motsweding, and Metro FM. During the 2010 Fifa soccer World Cup in South Africa, Mokasi was responsible for the Remote Search Park in Ellis Park and Soccer City.
“In 2011, I was working with the United States law enforcement agencies like the Secret Service during the visit of former US First Lady Michelle Obama to South Africa, Johannesburg, in this case. I designed the routes for her entourage, ensuring the safety of her convoy during the escort between Johannesburg and Tshwane, a role for which I received a letter of commendation from the White House,” says Mokasi.
She then moved to the Tactical Directorate – Freeway Patrol Unit/Special Patrol Unit and the Events Management Unit, which also oversees VIP escorts, including heads of state.
“In the 2014 Presidential Inauguration, I did the operational plan. Our role as JMPD was to secure identified hotels where heads of states were staying, secure the identified routes for the escorting of heads of states and safely escort them to any place that they were going to visit in and outside the boundaries of Gauteng.”
Before taking the helm in October 2020, Mokasi was Director of Operations at JMPD.
The single mother of Kutlwano fractured her knee while chasing a suspect in December last year and had to be operated on. “In a matter of weeks, I’ll soon go back to playing golf and dancing to Bill Withers and Luther Vandross. I also miss my boots.”
20/08/2021