South Africa's Police Champion Tackles Epidemic of Violence Against Women and Girls

CONSTABLE MOKOENA: LEADING THE FIGHT AGAINST GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA

A 34-year-old stepfather raped his minor stepdaughter repeatedly between 2017 and 2018, threatening to evict both the child and her mother if the girl ever spoke. That silence, enforced through fear, held for years. It broke when the victim chose to report the abuse, and what followed was an investigation that ended with a life sentence and a community made safer.

The officer who built that case is Constable Malearongwa Mokoena, a 28-year-old investigator at the Welkom Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit in the Free State. Her work sits at the intersection of criminal justice and public protection, handling cases that carry the heaviest consequences for the most vulnerable members of South African society.

Mokoena enrolled at the SAPS Academy in Graaff-Reinet in 2019. After completing the Basic Police Development Learning Programme in 2020, she was posted to Phuthaditjhaba Police Station. What came next was unexpected. She was selected as the only member of her training cohort to be placed at the Welkom FCS Unit, a specialized division dealing with crimes against women, children and other vulnerable populations.

Growing up in QwaQwa, she had not imagined herself in this role. She carried real concerns about her emotional capacity to handle such work. She moved forward anyway, grounding herself in her faith and committing to the responsibilities the posting demanded.

That commitment has had direct consequences for the people her unit serves. In the rape case involving the stepfather, the perpetrator’s coercion had been deliberate and calculated: threaten the child and her mother with homelessness, keep the abuse hidden, avoid accountability. Mokoena’s investigation dismantled that strategy. She assembled the evidentiary foundation that carried the case to the Bothaville Regional Court, where the accused was convicted on two counts of rape and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The conviction did two things at once. It removed a dangerous person from the community and it affirmed, in the clearest possible terms, that a victim’s decision to come forward can lead to justice.

Mokoena describes her role in terms that go beyond case management. “Being an FCS investigator is more than just an investigative job,” she said. “Through my meticulous investigations, perpetrators are brought to book and victims of sexual offences reclaim their power back.” That framing matters. It reflects an understanding that the criminal justice system, at its best, does not simply process crimes but restores agency and dignity to people who have been harmed.

Meanwhile, she has used her position to encourage other victims of sexual offences to report their cases, making the public-health argument plainly: silence protects perpetrators, and reporting creates the conditions for investigation and accountability. She is also pursuing a Police Science degree while maintaining her investigative caseload, a detail that speaks to the sustained professional investment the work requires.

The South African Police Service has recognized Mokoena’s contributions through its “Women Leading the Reset Agenda” campaign, which marks Women’s Month by highlighting female officers whose professionalism, courage and resilience contribute to safer communities. The campaign sits within the broader SAPS Reset Agenda, which prioritizes ethical leadership, accountability, professionalism and service excellence.

Mokoena’s career, still in its early years, raises a question worth holding: how many other victims are waiting to see whether the system will protect them before they decide to speak? The answer, in part, depends on whether officers like her continue to demonstrate that it will.