PARKTOWN : Wednesday, 17 August 2022- Participation by members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) in sporting activities such as combat rifle shooting is regarded as going beyond the call of duty as this sporting code allows members to hone their shooting skills.
Provincial Commissioner of the police in Gauteng, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela has lauded the team that represented the province at the National Combat Rifle Shooting Championship that took place at De Brug rifle range in Bloemfontein last week.
One member, in particular, did exceptionally well at this championship - Sergeant Stephens Thlabane Molamu of SAPS Dube bagged 25 gold, nine silver and eight bronze medals at this championship. South African Police Service participants also competed against military teams and teams from other countries including the Netherlands, Belgium and Lesotho.
Molamu, 42 years old, is a Shift Commander of Relief A at Dube police station and developed an interest in combat rifle shooting. He then went on to join the Combat Rifle Association in 2020. But, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all sporting codes were suspended until the restrictions were lifted earlier this year.
Nothing deterred Molamu as he continued to improve his shooting skills which require precision, razor-sharp focus, stress tolerance and determination to be the best of the best.
Molamu competed in the Class B category for participants who have less than two years of experience in shooting. Class A category is for participants with more than two years of experience and shooting without a rifle scope, while Class X is for participants with more than two years of experience and shooting with a rifle scope.
No target was too far or too small for Molamu who competed in various categories of shooting matches over distances of 100m, 200m, 300m and 400m. He was also selected to represent the South African Combat Rifle Association (SACRA) Presidential team which have beaten the Lesotho team and took gold at the championship.
"I am extremely proud of Sergeant Molamu's achievements at the recent National Combat Rifle Championship, he and the rest of team Gauteng represented the province well," said Lt Gen Mawela.