Newly Appointed Acting National Commissioner of SAPS Major General Nhlanhla Sibusiso Mkhwanazi

The acting National Commissioner of Police, Major General Nhlanhla Sibusiso Mkhwanazi (38) well known in the Police by the name of Lucky joined the South African Police Service (SAPS) in 1993. General Mkhwanazi `s initial deployment was in Public Order Policing where he was managing the Public Order Police responsibilities within the South African Police Service. He successfully managed to grow within the ranks of the police till the level of a major General.

He was then appointed to the Special Task force as per his outstanding performance and expertise . His core responsibilities as the section head, Special Task Force encompassed the following duties

To manage all responsibilities assigned to the Special Task Force according to section 218 (1) (m) as stipulated on Schedule 6 Annexure D of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,1996. This includes all assigned operations within and outside the Republic of South Africa. The responsibilities are stipulated as follows:

• The counteracting of volatile hostage situation on Land, Sea and Air
• Providing of specialized high risk operational policing support in counteracting high profile contact crimesPS
• Protection duties as well as the serving of high risk warrants and
• The performance of specialized search and recovery operations

General Mkhwanazi has been appointed the head, special task force since 2005 to date when he was appointed as the Major General. Currently he manages the air wing , all specialised operations, tactical response team, national intervention units, the newly tracking team and mobile operations, as well as Cross Border Operations. Amongst others he supervises and maintains the running of the Air wing operations and training processes.

"I am looking forward to managing this entire organisation with vigour, of course with assistance from my fellow colleagues as well as the entire management of the South African Police Service "said General Mkhwanazi.

Statement issued by Major General: Nonkululeko Mbatha, National Media Centre, Corporate Communication, South African Police Service, October 25 2011

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