WeeklySA_AdminRapists: Detective warrant officer Frans Motsume helped put thirteen serial rapists behind bars
By Monk Nkomo
A missing docket of a serial rapist who terrorised the community Eden Park in Ekurhuleni whose victims included a 14- year -old girl, over a two-year reign of terror, failed to deter a dedicated and hard-working police officer from nailing his prey.
Detective Warrant Officer Morwe Frans Motsume, forged through sweat, commitment and sacrifice, played a major role in ensuring the conviction of Albert Nyembe (40) on thirty-one counts including rape, attempted rape, robbery with aggravating circumstances, kidnapping and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
Nyembe was one of the thirteen serial rapists that had been jailed for lengthy jail terms through Motsume’s investigative skills to help prosecution teams to secure convictions in all these cases.
In the latest case, Nyembe was sentenced to seven life terms and an additional 260 years in jail. His reign of terror between 2014 and 2016 when he was arrested, brought a sense of huge relief to the Eden Park community.
Gauteng Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni, lauded Motsume for achieving the stiff sentence that was handed down to Nyembe.
“The dedication, thoroughness and perseverance displayed by Warrant Officer Motsume will restore our communities’ faith in the South African Police Service. Community members, especially child victims should rest assured that our members will continue to stamp the authority of the state in bringing perpetrators to justice.”
A veteran detective with 33 years’ service and extensive experience in detectives, Motsume joined the FCS SECI 13 years ago and protecting women and children had been his sole purpose ever since. He had put behind bars over 13 serial rapists, meaning one serial rapist per year. His, is a story of dedication, perseverance and hard work in efforts of bringing the perpetrators of gender – based violence to justice.
Determined to achieve the mission of law enforcement officers to protect the public and serve the community with integrity, fairness and dedication, Motsume took over the investigation half-way through from Sergeant Nkoana in 2020. Nkoana, who has since resigned, arrested the accused, Nyembe, who was linked via DNA and was appearing in court on another matter. At the time, the dockets were not ready for court with outstanding witnesses and statements. The dockets were centralised and the original docket was taken to the Director of Public Prosecution’s (DPP) office in Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court for a decision. The docket later went missing.
The news of the missing docket somehow managed to reach the accused (Nyembe) who started fighting for his release claiming there was no valid reason for his detention. ‘’As a result, he then started being arrogant by calling victims to intimidate them’’.
Nyembe was a serial rapist who was terrorising the community of Eden Park in Ekurhuleni district, whose reign of terror started in 2014 and came to an abrupt stop in 2016. His youngest victim was a 14-year-old girl, who is now a young woman and had to live with the trauma inflicted by Nyembe. Another victim refused to continue with the case as she felt it took long to help her find closure and also reiterated that she did not wish to re-live the rape incident as she now had a husband. She did not want him to know about the rape and would like to keep it that way.
During his investigations, Motsume hit yet another brick wall, this time in his attempt to convince the victim to proceed with the case.
The police officer had to go through the tedious and challenging task of defending the accused’s detention as well as reconstructing the dockets by first locating the three victims who resided in different parts of remote areas in Kwa-Zulu Natal because they were visiting Gauteng during the festive season when they got raped.
Detective Sergeant Dineo Moloi and Detective Sergeant Pule Kotelo were of great help to Motsume, as they travelled to KZN in Nquthu and Ulundi to assist without any known addresses to locate and send victims for consultation in court. Upon successfully tracing the victims from KZN, Motsume started afresh with investigations to create duplicate dockets.
Detective Captain Bernard Smith and Chief Admin Clerk Lerato Morake under the management of Colonel Simangele Mntambo were his work support system, which proved truth in John Donne’s quote that: “No one is self-sufficient; everyone relies on others.” The successful reconstruction of the four dockets took him a year and thereafter, the dockets were eventually enrolled.
Motsume went beyond the call of duty to locate victims and transport them to and from KZN in a short space of time and mostly over the weekends. He was commended by the Judge of the High Court Gauteng Division Johannesburg, Judge CI Moosa for being a key contributor in the State Securing a conviction in the case.
‘’What keeps Warrant Officer Motsume awake at night is the passion to protect children and women of this country, by apprehending the perpetrators and creating a safe environment for all. He has a knack for investigation and loves his job,’’ said Mthombeni.
When off duty, and not tracing suspects and searching for victims, Motsume is a loving husband to his beautiful and supportive wife. He also has a brother, two sons and two daughters and he is also a level -headed joker with a dry sense of humour. He is also a strong supporter of Kaizer Chiefs FC and English Premier League Champions, Manchester City FC .
Mthombeni said this year, the South African Police Service (SAPS) observed National Child Protection Week by highlighting the work of our members who go beyond the call of duty to protect children.
This annual campaign emphasised the importance of protecting children against abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence and sought to promote the awareness of children’s rights as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.
Over the years, South Africa had been grappling an increase in GBVF related crimes. With the pandemic raging on, police in Gauteng were also fighting back through this specialised unit called the Serial and Electronic Crime Investigations (SECI) which investigates serial rapists and offenders involved in electronic media facilitated crimes such as child pornography. SECI falls within the Family Violence,
Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) and it’s overall mandate was to ensure effective investigation and to provide a sensitive, professional service to the victims of FCS related crimes. FCS was responsible for investigating all family violence, intra-familial crimes (mother, father and children), all crimes committed against a person under the age of 18 and sexual crimes against all genders.
Meet Warrant Officer Morwe Frans Motsome, a veteran detective with 33 years’ service and extensive experience in detectives. Thirteen years ago, he joined FCS SECI, protecting women and children has been his sole purpose since. He has put behind bars over 13 serial rapists, meaning one serial rapist per year. His, is a story of dedication, perseverance and hard work in efforts of bringing the perpetrators of SECI related crimes to justice.
Warrant Officer Motsume took over the investigation half-way through from Sergeant Nkoana in 2020, who has since resigned. Sergeant Nkoana arrested the accused Albert Nyembe, who was linked via DNA and was appearing in court for another matter. At the time, the dockets were not ready for court with outstanding witnesses and statements. The dockets were centralised and the original docket was taken to the Director of Public Prosecution’s (DPP) office in Palm Ridge
Magistrate’s Court for a decision, where it later went missing. The news of the missing docket somehow managed to reach the accused who started fighting for his release as there was no valid reason for his detention. As a result, he then started being arrogant by calling victims to intimidate them.
Albert Nyembe is a serial rapist who was terrorising the community of Eden Park in Ekurhuleni District, whose reign of terror started in 2014 and came to an abrupt stop in 2016. His youngest victim was a 14-year-old girl, who is now a young woman and has to live with the trauma inflicted by Nyembe. Another victim refused to continue with the case as she felt it took long to get closure and also reiterated that she does not wish to re-live the rape incident, mentioning that she now has a husband whom she does not want to know about the rape and would like to keep it that way.
Motsome hit yet another brick wall, this time in his attempt to convince the victim to proceed with the case.
Motsome had to go through the tedious and quite challenging task of defending the accused’s detention as well as reconstructing the dockets by first locating the three victims who reside in different parts of remote areas in Kwa-Zulu Natal because they were visiting Gauteng during the festive season and when they got raped. Detective Sergeant Dineo Moloi and Detective Sergeant Pule Kotelo were of great help to Motsome, as they travelled to KZN in Nquthu and Ulundi to assist without any known addresses to locate and send victims to consultation in court. Upon successfully tracing victims from KZN, Motsome started afresh with investigations to create duplicate dockets.
Detective Captain Bernard Smith and Chief Admin Clerk Lerato Morake under the management of Colonel Simangele Mntambo were his work support system, which proves truth in John Donne’s quote that says “No one is self-sufficient; everyone relies on others.” The successful reconstruction of the four dockets took him a year and thereafter, the dockets were eventually enrolled.
The member went beyond the call of duty, to locate victims and transport them to and from KZN in a short space of time and mostly over the weekends. He was commended by the Judge of the High Court Gauteng Division Johannesburg, Judge CI Moosa for being a key contributor in the state winning the case.
What keeps Warrant Officer Motsume awake at night is the passion to protect children and women of this country, by apprehending the perpetrators and creating a safe environment for all. He has a knack for investigation and loves his job.
When not chasing after victims and tracing suspects, Warrant Officer Motsume is a husband to his lovely and supportive wife, a brother, a father to two sons and two daughters and he is also a level headed joker with a dry sense of humour. He is a Kaizer Chiefs FC and Manchester City FC supporter.
