Page 9 - 17 October 2025

THE REPORTER 17 OCTOBER 2025 · PAGE 9

Would he recognise himself with me. straight and proud, the same And I hope when my own
in the way I laugh, or worry, And I like to think that as he was on that day, sons look at me, they'll see
or pace when I'm thinking? somewhere, just beyond the watching, and maybe, just that same trace of decency
Would he approve of the frame, he's still standing maybe, nodding back. passed down the line.
choices I've made, the family
I've built, the man I've
become? I'll never know. But on the information which led
I like to think that some- them to Jojweni location and
where, in whatever myste- the information yielded
rious way life carries forward, positive results.
a few threads of him were
woven into mine. Upon arrival at Jojweni
In the Mirror, Sometimes, late in the location the members went
to the identified home and
a Man I Never Knew evening, I'll catch the met with the suspect. During
photograph in the lamplight 60 YEAR OLD MAN IN the initial investigation he
and imagine what it might took the firearm from his
Barking at the Moon is a reflection in the mirror, I have been like to sit across POSSESSION OF UNLICENSED
column I write about the pause. The shape of the from him as an adult, to waist and handed it over to
things that drift through my eyes, the set of the jaw, the share a drink, talk about FIREARM ARRESTED the members. The firearm
head, the odd thoughts, way I stand when I'm work, politics, family, and all a n d 6 r o u n d s w e r e
memories, and moments thinking. It makes me the things that make up a confiscated.
that seem to ask for a little wonder if, somehow, I've life. To ask him what he was He was not in a position to
more attention. This one grown into the man in that afraid of, what he hoped for, provide any valid firearm
began as a simple piece picture, or if I've spent my life what he learned too late. I license and was arrested.
about fathers and the marks trying to. don't think I'd ask for advice, The 60 year old suspect will
they leave on us, but it had People often talk about just a story or two, the kind of appear at the Mount Fletcher
other ideas. Somewhere turning into their fathers. I've stories that make a man magistrate court on the
along the way, it took me never had that luxury, or that human, not heroic. charge of the possession of
down a quieter, more warning. There was no slow an unlicensed firearm and
emotional path than I'd recognition, no dawning There's a quiet ache in not ammunition.
planned, and I'll admit, there moment of “Good grief, I knowing, but it's not an
were a few moments that sound just like Dad.” For me, unhappy one. It's a gentle The firearm will be sent for
caught me off guard while it's guesswork. I wonder longing, a curiosity about ballistic testing for any
writing it. Anyway, here we whether he would've been the man who gave me my possible linkage to any other
go. name and a few of my crimes.
patient or quick-tempered, features, and then left me to
On the wall in my study proud or reserved, the sort fill in the rest. The Joe Gqabi District
hangs a photograph of my who laughed easily or saved Ngqayi (KatKop) 7 October continuous efforts to enforce C o m m i s s i o n e r M a j o r
parents on their wedding it for special occasions. I And yet, in ways I can't quite 2025 - The SAPS promotes these laws and regulations General Lindelwa Vellem
day. My father stands in his wonder if he was kind. explain, I've never felt r e s p o n s i b l e f i r e a r m yielded successful on the 6th commended the members
Royal Air Force uniform, I was fortunate, though. My completely without him. ownership therefore there is of October 2025. on the swift reaction that
straight and proud, that mother remarried, and my He's there in small things, in strict laws and regulations in W /O Noqazo the Detective made the arrest and
familiar mix of pride and stepfather stepped quietly the urge to do the right thing place to ensure that firearms Commander and his mem- recovery possible. She also
nerves caught forever in into that empty space. He even when no one's wat- are handled and owned by bers received information of encouraged the community
black and white. My mother, was a decent man, fair, ching, in the love of a well- citizens in a safe and an old man who is in to keep to the guidelines for
radiant beside him, has that disciplined, and polite. From pressed shirt, in the tenden- responsible manner and possession of a firearm that firearm owners. This will help
calm poise women of her him, I learned good man- cy to stand a little straighter include obtaining the he is using to perform to reduce the risk of
generation seemed to carry ners, respect, and how to when life gets messy. Maybe necessary licenses and security duties at a shop in accidents, misuse and crime
effortlessly, a look that says stand up straight when those are coincidences. Or permits before acquiring a Jojweni location. committed and ultimately
she knew what lay ahead and someone entered the room. maybe they are an inheri- firearm. contributing to a safer
was ready for it. tance of another kind. Ngqayi SAPS member's The members followed up community.
He taught by example, not
I t ' s o n e o f t h e f e w speeches. And while he was I sometimes imagine him
photographs I have of him. never unkind, it was a standing beside me, not as a
My father died when I was different kind of love, steady, ghost but as an echo,
barely a year old. I never dutiful, and sometimes at curious too, perhaps, about
knew his voice, his laugh, or arm's length. He was not my how it all turned out. I'd like
Childrenn
what made him angry. I father, but he was the man to think he'd be content.
never got to sit on his who made sure I had one in That he'd look at the C h i l d r e
shoulders or learn how to my life. For that, I'll always be photograph and the man his
hold a spanner the right way grateful. son became, and say, “You
up. For most of my life, he's Still, there's a gap that never did all right, boy.” are to be seen and not Hurt!
b e e n b o t h r e a l a n d quite closes, not out of These days, when I pass the
imagined, a figure stitched bitterness, but out of mirror and see a face that's
together from stories, curiosity. The kind of slowly becoming more like
photographs, and the small curiosity that grows as you his, I don't look away. I nod, a
fragments of memory my get older and start to see quiet acknowledgment, a
mother shared when she yourself through the lens of greeting between two people
thought I was old enough to time. I often wonder how who never met, but who are
listen. somehow still connected.
much of him lives on in me,
But as the years have gone not the face or the frame, but And every now and then, I
by, I've found myself looking the habits, the instincts, the look at that photograph and
more closely at that small things that shape a smile. Because even though
photograph. And some- person without them ever I never got to know him, I've
times, when I catch my realising it. spent a lifetime carrying him