The community of Kraaifontein gathered in the hall of Scottsville High School on Sunday to pay tribute to the late Captain Gerhardus Niemand.
He served as a communications officer in the Kraaifontein police station from 2003 until he retired in January 2020, according to the station’s spokeswoman, Warrant Officer Louise Strydom.
Over 100 people attended the memorial service for Captain Niemand who succumbed to colon cancer on Saturday August 12.
His younger brother, Francois Niemand said he was diagnosed with the disease in December last year.
He said he will remember him as a caring person who was an, “iron brother and an iron man.”
Ms Strydom said Captain Niemand had served at the Sea Point and Kuils River police stations before Kraaifontein.
She said he was well respected in the communities and their tasks included doing crime awareness in the schools, old age homes and the community at large.
“He was a mentor and a father figure to me, and to the whole community. The parents would stand in queues in front of our office and say they do not know what to do with the naughty boys, drug abuse and unemployment and he would find solutions wherever it is possible,” she said.
Kraaifontein community police forum (CPF) spokesman, Robert Bisset, said: “You could rely on him for anything. He worked very well with the CPF. He was building the communities up… He was (also) a nicer gentleman.”
