Jun 6, 2010 12:00 AM | By Teneshia Naidoo
The newly appointed head of the police's Pietermaritzburg cluster is living up to her name.
BORN TO POLICE: Parbathie Maharaj, the new major-general of the Pietermaritzburg cluster Picture JACKIE CLAUSEN
Major-general Parbathie Maharaj, whose first name means "enemy of the unjust", will oversee 13 police stations and specialised courts in the KwaZulu-Natal capital.
The appointment was announced by provincial commissioner Mamunye Ngobeni this week.
Maharaj, who started her career more than 30 years ago as a clerk, said she was "elated".
"I believe it's hard work, and I have always been a go-getter.
"In order to gain, you have to put in a lot of hard work, and, for me, my greatest thanks and apprecia-tion go to my parents. They laid a very strong foundation for me," she said.
The mother of two said even though she had experienced challenges as an Indian and a woman, she had persevered.
"If I can't climb the mountain, I will go around it," she said philosophically.
Maharaj, who was previously a brigadier at Pietermaritzburg police station, said her solution to crime was to engage in projects with organisations such as Religions Against Crime and the Department of Education.
"I also believe the criminal justice system needs to look at the seriousness of crimes against any living soul, so that such perpetrators are given life imprisonment for violating the rights and privacy of any other person."
She said women could play a major role in mobilising against crime.
In 1990, she became the first woman to receive a BA police science degree and is now working towards her doctorate.
Maharaj said it was sad that a "minority" of police officers involved in corruption had given a bad name to the majority of good officers in the country. She believed her manner of approach earned her the respect of fellow officers when she served as station commander.
"I command respect, I don't demand it, I lead them by the hand and give them guidance to be effective.
"You have to lead by example. Rather walk the talk with your members. I have always lived by the motto 'Labour with love'."
Sunday Times
Comments by Sonny
Sounds like a good profile for a professional policewoman.
Maharaj thwarted policemen in doing their jobs. She was gullible and easily persuaded by members of the public, especially women. In one case, a woman was being prosecuted in Peitermaritzburg for criminally not giving access to the children to her husband. This was a statutory provision i.to. a further amedment Act of the 1960s. The father was backed by the office of the Family Advocate in a severe and outrageous case of blatant denial of access - so bad that they suggested the father bring criminal charges ito of the statutory provision. The evidence was insurmountable against the mother, with police witnessing the incidents of denial of access.
ReplyDeleteThe mother contacted Maharaj, who influenced the local head of he prosecution not to prosecute- secretly, whilst informing the father that the summons issued against the mother had to be redone because they summons would be otherwise short served.
The policemen including the investigating officer, one Keith, now left the force, after this incident, was called in a reprimanded by Maharaj.
In a letter to the head of the local prosecution, Maharaj wrote, ; the father has a high court order, and his only recourse is to go to the high court for a contempt relief, and not a criminal one. ' This letter was shown to the father, and a copy was given to him by the investigating officer, who had had enough from Maharaj by that time.
The father had both the civil and criminal options available to him.
Maharaj carried the Apartheid mindset of policing into SAPS.
She prioritized investigating crimes against Indians and Whites, but shunned victims of crimes in squatter camps- an issue that came up again and again in Police meetings but she frustrated ground policemen's work in this regard.