Every once in a while, we come across police officers who go above and beyond the call of duty, and that could be presumed to be the case for Sgt Glender Mathebula.
The daring officer went places many officers never go — charming a suspected rapist over the phone and eventually nabbing him.
Speaking to TimesLIVE Premium, Mathebula said after a woman reported a rape incident to the police but could not identify the perpetrator, she managed to trace the suspect, charmed him and conducted a sting operation to ensure he was nabbed.
Mathebula, 40, is a detective in the family violence, child protection and sexual offences investigations (FCS) unit in Tzaneen, Limpopo.
In 2011 that Mathebula received a rape case of a woman who said she had been attacked by an unknown suspect when walking home from work in Ga-Kgapane township in the Bolobedu district.
The victim said the perpetrator and an accomplice approached her and struck her with a bottle, robbed her of her phone and dragged her into the bushes, where they raped her.
With no lead, as the victim did not see the perpetrator because it was dark, Mathebula said she assured the victim and her family that she would catch the perpetrator.
Her first lead came after she used police resources to trace the victim’s stolen cellphone through cellphone towers.
We called each other often and he would even buy me airtime and would call me ‘baby’. He always spoke about how he can’t wait to see me, that he loves my voice and he melts whenever I speak to him.
— Sgt Glender Mathebula
“It showed that a new number was being used [on her phone]. That is when I started to call [the number]. I would call him and I changed my voice into a sweet one and he was charmed by my voice. He asked what my name was. I told him I am Fikile. He didn’t ask further questions, he just fell for it,” she said.
This was the start of a telephonic relationship between the two, where the suspect, Piet Motolla, believed he had found a new lover in her.
He pulled out all the stops to impress her ahead of their meeting, even offering to buy Mathebula airtime.
“We called each other often and he would even buy me airtime and would call me ‘baby’. He always spoke about how he can’t wait to see me, that he loves my voice, and he melts whenever I speak to him.
“I even had to explain to my husband that I am working on a case, and he shouldn’t be surprised by the calls as Motolla liked to call at night,” she said.
About two months later, a love-stricken Motolla asked to finally meet the sergeant, saying he wanted to introduce her to his family.
Mathebula did not hesitate and agreed to meet him.
She wanted to ensure that their first meeting would lead to him ending up behind bars.
“I arranged at the office for backup in case something happened. We went to the village near where he wanted to meet. I went to the taxi rank and got on a taxi and sent him the number plate of the taxi so that he will be able to see it coming,” she said.
Deep in character, Mathebula said she was dressed in “hot-pants”, sported a fresh hairstyle and wore sunglasses.
I love my job. I feel bad when I see children and women being raped … I feel men fail us, so I need to make sure we feel appreciated as women, irrespective of what we are going through. If there is one person to give them hope, I feel I should be that person to show them there is life after whatever they went through.
— Sgt Glender Mathebula
“I had to show him I’m a hot girl. I described to him on the phone what I was wearing since we had never met. He also told me what he was wearing,” she said while laughing.
Mathebula got off at the bus stop where Motolla had been patiently waiting for his blind date. Upon seeing her, he waved at her to come over.
“I went to him. We hugged. Immediately after hugging, my members arrived and he got arrested,” said Mathebula.
But it seemed Motolla still had hope for the two of them.
“When he was being arrested, he said: ‘Ah, Fikile, you’re a police officer? Baby, when I come back, we will be together again.’ He even said he will show me where his phone is as he had taken it in for repairs,” she said.
His DNA test results positively linked him to the incident, and his phone also linked him to another unsolved case, where his DNA was also a match.
In 2017, Motolla was sentenced to life imprisonment and a further 15 years for rape and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Her stellar investigation on the case won her the ‘Best Detective of the Year’ at the SAPS Limpopo Excellence Awards.
“I was amazed. I couldn’t believe that I won. I was happy and humbled at the same time. And at that time, I had just had triplets who were a few months old. I felt God was blessing me,” she said.
But that was not the last time that Mathebula went undercover to catch a serial rapist. The next time was when she went after a slippery rapist who used Facebook to lure his victims.
He would promise his victims jobs.
However, the rapist, Matome Ockney Seale from Lephephane village, gave the officer a hard time. After posing as someone looking for a job and arranging to meet Seale, he kept changing their meeting spots.
Mathebula said since the man is often armed when raping women, she had to wear a jacket on the day they were meant to meet to conceal her weapon. This probably blew her disguise as it was a hot day, she said.
“He texted me and said he saw I was travelling in a Toyota Quantum filled with men. I ignored him. I tried to trace where he stayed and I found it. When we got there, we found that he was gone and left him a message.”
However, Seale’s family had called the police as the Facebook rapist had shot his sister and he was finally arrested.
Mathebula said she joined the SAPS after her mother told her about vacancies at the academy.
After working as a student officer where she only had to take statements for rape cases and accompany victims for a medical check, she opted to join the FCS unit to see the cases through.
“I love my job. I feel bad when I see children and women being raped ... I feel men fail us, so I need to make sure we feel appreciated as women, irrespective of what we are going through. If there is one person to give them hope, I feel I should be that person to show them there is life after whatever they went through. They shouldn’t give up. A woman can still be an engineer after a violent rape. You can still build a family and show them love,” she said.
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