By Waaqiah Jaffer
“I’ve always had a passion for joining the South African Police Service from a young age”, said former police officer, Hakim Mohammed who retired as a Colonel at the age of 56 in March this year.
Mohammed was born in Barkly Road in 1967. His family relocated to Homevale Extension at the age of 11. Mohammed was, however, well positioned to pursue his passion of being a policeman.
He started school at Olympic Primary School from grade one to grade four. Subsequent to completing primary school Mohammed embarked on gaining Islamic knowledge and started grade eight at Barberton High School in Mpumalanga.
In 1986 he commenced his Islamic Studies as an Aleem (Islamic Educator) in As-Salaam and New Castle, KwaZulu-Natal. After three years he started teaching at the Homevale Madressah in Kimberley. He obtained his matric through Success College in 1990.
Whilst being an educator he discovered that he still had a passion for fighting crime and joined the South African Police Service (SAPS) in 1991.
After receiving police training in Bishop Lavis, Western Cape he worked as a Constable at the Transvaal Road and Roodepan police stations from 1992 to 2000. He successfully climbed the ladder from a Constable to Sergeant to being a Warrant Officer. In 2000 he worked as the ‘Youth Coordinator’ at Diamond Field Area Commissioner and simultaneously obtained his BTech degree in Policing.
Four years later he became Acting Station Commander in Olifantshoek. In 2005 he was the Station Commander in Hartswater. From 2007-2008 he worked at Galeshewe police station as the Acting Visible Policing Commander. Mohammed was later based at Kagisho police station as the Station Commander.
His biggest accolade was being part of the team who started the Tactical Response Team (TRT) in Kimberley.
Shortly after being promoted as Colonel in 2018, he suffered an unfortunate heart attack in 2019 and underwent coronary artery bypass surgery. Due to his ill health he transferred to Northern Cape Supply Chain as the Provincial Coordinator of Covid-19. Later he took a transfer to the Provincial Inspectorate.
On 31 March 2023 he retired and celebrated with his colleagues and loved ones. “One of the most memorable times in my career was rendering loyal service under the command of General Shivuri and Brigadier Tusi”.
“I miss my colleagues and the community that I worked with over the past 32 years”.
He encourages the youth to join the South African Police Service (SAPS), “The youth are ambitious and energetic enough to engage in fighting crime”.
Currently, Mohammed focuses on bettering his relationship with Allah (God), spending time with family and traveling the world.
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