Sergeant Nhlanhla Patrick Mhlongo from Greenwood Park police station bagged a big award at the South African Police Service KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Excellence Awards, held at the Durban ICC on Friday night, 6 June.
Despite not submitting any application to contest for the Excellence Award, Mhlongo’s hard work was too visible to ignore. The Sergeant’s award-winning work includes notable over 184 years’ imprisonment sentences on cases of murder, house robberies, and other violent crimes in a single year.
Among his outstanding cases was the case of a 21-year-old woman who was kidnapped and killed after being last seen leaving a nightclub in uMhlanga on Christmas Day in 2024. Hardly a week later, Mhlongo uncovered the identity of the man who was last seen with her.
The suspect was the woman’s manager, who took her to his home at Amaoti in Inanda, where he murdered and buried her body.
“For his excellence in putting criminals behind bars and bringing closure to victims and their families, Sgt Mhlongo was rewarded with a brand new vehicle.
Sgt Mhlongo was never invited to the awards; instead, he was summoned to the Provincial Commissioner’s office to sign a warning letter for misconduct he knew nothing about. That anxiety resulted in tears of joy when the supposed charge turned out to be a brand new vehicle,” said KZN police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda.
Delivering a speech on the day, KZN Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi said: “Excellence is achieved by those who take a moment and reflect on their performances, analyse their shortfalls, and emancipate initiatives that brought them notable successes. Tonight is the night for police in the province of KwaZulu-Natal to celebrate our top achievers.
The excellence we are celebrating tonight is for those members who collectively and individually ensured that 5,016 firearms and over 51,000 rounds of ammunition were removed from society.”
Mkhwanazi further added that KZN police believe in spending less time in meetings so that most time is spent on boots on the ground serving communities. He expanded to say that they want to spend less time planning but come up with effective strategies that will allow officers to have more time executing the plan.
