She is currently the head of cops in Mpumalanga, appointed Mpumalanga police commissioner on 1 July 2021.
Mpumalanga’s police leader Lieutenant-General Semakaleng Manamela is an unobtrusive, loving, very disciplined and orientated mother of two kids, a boy and a girl, who are twins, according to her profile that is being published today.
Born in the North West, her discipline both at work and in her personal life made her an outstanding woman amongst others.
Like many mothers out there, she knows the difficulty of being a single mother in a society like ours, having lost her husband in 2004.
She says she is inspired and influenced by C. JoyBell C, a modern day philosopher and the most frequently quoted author on Goodreads, who once said: ‘The strength of a woman is not measured by the impact that all her hardships in life have had on her but by the extent of her refusal to allow those hardships to dictate her and who she becomes’.
Manamela believes in never allowing the hardships of this world to dictate her destiny.
Instead she always strives for excellence and has seriously turned the situation around where breaking the glass ceiling for women is concerned.
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She strives to not fold her arms or turn a blind eye when her fellow women are struggling with making ends meet.
She is a fairly powerful and charismatic women and has a good reputation as a leader within communities and stakeholders as well as serving members of the SAPS.
She is encouraged to confront even situations which were previously deemed for men and that is part of the reasons she keeps reaching for greater heights.
Manamela is described as a “woman of substance; with a big-heart, quite intelligent and brave. She is prepared to take society to another level”.
Her career path spans from when she began as an ordinary cop after graduating at then Pretoria West College (now called SAPS Tshwane Training Academy) in 1995.
She then went through the SAPS ranks, starting as a Constable, then a Warrant Officer, a Captain, Lieutenant-Colonel, later a Colonel, she then became a Brigadier then a Major-General where she served as deputy provincial commissioner.
On 1 July 2021 she started her new job as Mpumalanga’s police commissioner.
Her academic qualifications hold her in good stead having matriculated in 1987, and thereafter acquired her National Diploma in administration in 1992 at Technikon Northern Transvaal.
In 1999, she got another diploma, this time a national higher diploma in public management and administration. Also:
– Certificate in project management, from Technikon Pretoria,
– Certificate in management Services in 1999,
– Bachelor of Arts Degree in human and social studies (2010),
– Honours Degree in public management and administration in 2016,
– She will soon have her Masters Degree in public administration which she is presently pursuing with UNISA (University of South Africa).
She is someone who believes that in reality women “are facing a lot of resistance in the so called men’s world”.
“The voice of a woman has to be proven beyond reason doubt before it can be heard,” her profile reads.
“As women, we must stand firm in our duty,” she says.
“It cannot be correct that to date women are still striving to be recognised in managerial positions, as we have what it takes, we are equal to the task and we can,” she said, adding that her wish is to “see the citizens of Mpumalanga and the country being able to walk free without being fear of being attacked by criminals”.
“It is also my wish to see, especially women and children or the vulnerable groups of our society, being able to go to work and children being able to play freely in the street without thinking of criminals who might rape and kill them”.
My motto is:
“Minding my own business is what keeps me on the edge. Planning and organising my life style is very important. Every day when I wake up , I must know and have my own taskings and goals for the day and strive to achieve them or at least more than half of them. I do not what to fail and give up, if I do something and get it wrong, I ask, inquire or research until it is correct”.
(edited by MLM)
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