Sergeant Matome Rathupetsane used his 40th birthday to feed 40 families in his home town of Tzaneen and 40 families in Alexandra, where he lives and works.
Alexandra, South Africa (05 June 2020) – 702’s Joanne Joseph interviewed Sergeant Matome Rathupetsane on the afternoon show after hearing about how he dedicated his 40th birthday to feeding over 100 people. The selfless cop had started a list of desperate families in Alexandra and asked a fellow officer to do the same in Tzaneen, Limpopo.
Sergeant Rathupetsane was born and raised in Tzaneen, Limpopo. He left to follow his career in policing and followed the one golden rule, never forget where you came from. As a tribute to the place that gave him his start in life, Sergeant Rathupetsane committed to feeding 40 families in his home town.
It started while he was working in Alexandra, he saw the desperate need for support in the form of food. He decided the best thing he could do for his birthday, was be in service of others.
He went to Makro and bought food for one woman, but it inspired him to help 40 families at home and in his birth village. He arranged a donation and then delivered the parcels to all the people on the list.
“Because of COVID-19 I realised many people are hungry. I collected a list of forty people in Alexandra and I asked my friend to collect another forty people in my village in Tzaneen.” – Sergeant Matome Rathupetsane
“Yesterday we contributed the food parcels. There are a lot of good police officers doing good other there.”
In the face of the fear and corruption enforced by many police officers, Sergeant Rathupetsane hopes to change that. He honours his job by making people feel safe, showing they can trust the police.
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