Tommy Mthombeni appointed Gauteng police commissioner

Maj-Gen Tommy Mthombeni has been appointed as Gauteng police commissioner and Maj-Gen Maropeng Johanna Mamothethi as divisional commissioner responsible for visible policing and operations. 

They have both been promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general with effect from March 1. 

Announcing their appointment at a media briefing on Friday, national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola said the two positions were critical in ensuring the deployment of capacity and resources in the execution of the police's mandate.

“This will bolster our efforts to heighten police visibility in our communities towards preventing, combating and investigating crime and ultimately putting perpetrators to justice,” Masemola said. 

Mthombeni had been acting Gauteng commissioner since February, after the retirement of Lt-Gen Elias Mawela. 

Masemola said Mthombeni has been serving as the deputy provincial commissioner responsible for visible policing since 2020. 

Mthombeni has 37 years’ service and has held several senior positions including cluster commander and district commissioner of Tshwane, and station commander of the Jabulani police station in Soweto and Pretoria Central police station. 

He holds a national diploma in police administration, a national higher diploma in policing and a master’s degree in public administration. 

“He has been instrumental and a key figure in developing and implementing crime combating strategies to reduce levels of crime in the province and we have full confidence that he will continue to lead and contribute in ensuring that serious and violent crimes in this economic hub are dealt a blow,” Masemola said. 

Masemola said the visible policing and operations division was key as it encompassed crime prevention, border security and specialised interventions sub-programmes. 

The division provided direction on the effective combating of crime through the provisioning of a visible policing service. 

Masemola said Mamothethi brings to the position a wealth of experience in the visible policing environment. She has 28 years’ service and holds a diploma in policing, a B-Tech degree in policing, and a Bachelor of Commerce in human resource management. 

She has served as deputy provincial commissioner for support services in the Northern Cape and also served as the component head for social crime prevention where she was responsible for enhancing partnership policing programmes.

As the component head of firearms, liquor and second-hand goods, she was instrumental in reducing the backlog in firearm licensing and firearm amnesty applications by 94%, Masemola said. 

In the 2021/22 financial year, she oversaw the finalisation of 531,249 firearm-related applications. He said the effective management of the amnesty applications reduced the number of illegal firearms in circulation in the country. 

Since April 2022, she has overseen the destruction of more than 72,000 firearms surrendered voluntarily to the state or confiscated during crime combating operations across the country. 

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