Amputee leads fight against crime
Inspiration to all … Police, Roads, and Transport MEC Butana Komphela and Sello Tsotetsi during Police Day celebrations.
An amputee has not let his disability get in the way of him helping the police fight crime.
Sello Tsotesi had his leg amputated in 2005. He endured countless operations at different hospitals across the Free State.
He was injured while working for a security firm in Gauteng and could not carry on with his job due to his injury and had to return home to Qwaqwa.
Tsotesi said the first operation to his leg was done in Boksburg. Doctors connected his ligaments with screws but the operation was unsuccessful.
“When it’s cold, the screws in my leg would freeze and I’d feel this massive pain in my leg.”
The pain stopped for a while but resurfaced in 2004.
He sought help at the Manapo Hospital in Qwaqwa but was transferred to Pelonomi Hospital in Bloemfontein because of the severity of his condition.
“They transferred me to National Hospital for more operations.”
This was when doctors realised that he had a bone tumour in his leg. The next few years were a daily nightmare for Tsotsetsi, whose leg pains worsened and affected his mobility. He could hardly walk and had to use crutches.
After much agonising, he decided to have his leg amputated and he has never regretted the decision.
“I had a leg but could not really use it, so I just told them they can amputate it.”
Tsotesi decided to pick up the pieces of his broken life and studied Public Administration. He then landed a job as an admin clerk for the police.
The MEC for Police, Roads, and Transport, Butana Komphela, assured police officers who are severely injured during the call of duty that they would not be removed from the police force because of their disability, but be deployed to work in other departments.
Speaking at the provincial Police Day celebrations in Bloemfontein last week, Komphela said more disabled people are being absorbed into the police and military than ever before.
“They work in call centres where people call for help and report crimes, others even help at the police stations doing admin related work.”
Komphela said there is nothing preventing disabled police officers from doing investigative work and added that their expertise can be utilised in different areas.
“You may be shot in the call of duty, but that does not mean you cannot conduct investigations.”
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