Most feared female cop

Police officer Christina Fonsech, 35, speaks openly about being abandoned at an early age. Her now deceased father only became part of her life at a later stage and she had to leave school in Grade 9 to become a nanny. It was then that former president Sam Nujoma intervened in her life, after learning about her plight in 1992. Fonsech said she is currently targeting churches that she believes are misleading the public. “Some churches are changing people so badly; they are leaving their jobs to serve these churches, but that not what the Bible teaches us. I am against churches using the name of God… Nowadays, some churches are becoming witch houses, as they preach while at the same time telling people they are bewitched.” Commenting on the role Nujoma played in her education, Fonsech said she had written a letter to the Ministry of Education, saying that she desperately wanted to go back to school. Nujoma asked the then mayor of Tsumeb, Susan Nghidinwa, to look for Fonsech, as the young girl had previously worked as a nanny in the town. By that time she had moved to Windhoek. However, when Fonsech later visited Tsumeb, she found an unopened letter from Nujoma, who ended up paying her school fees. Today, Fonsech is probably the most feared female police officer in the country, and heads the Regional Community Affairs desk for Khomas. Fearless She is known as a fearless police officer and is loved and respected by the community for her no-nonsense approach. At the same time, she is hated by criminals, who have made death threats against her, telling her that she will be found dead. She has recently targeted witchdoctors who exploit people financially, and dubious churches that do the same. Fonsech, who was initially based in the Oshana Region and helped reduce crime there, was transferred to Windhoek in 2012 to fight crime in the capital. She says she regularly receives requests from outside Windhoek for assistance and told Namibian Sun that she “loves things to be in order”.Fonsech said her upbringing made her fearless. She said she would be forever grateful to Nujoma, her two children, Nghidinwa and her cousin Christina Perestrelo, who raised her. “I learnt the hard way, passing through thick and thin. Sometimes I was not loved and cared for, but it did not matter, as I knew God is there and he will provide and find a way,” she said. Among her duties are forming community networks and neighbourhood watches to fight and prevent crime, as well as solving community problems. She said she became known during the northern floods a couple of years ago. The floods displaced many and Fonsech called on the business community to assist the police in assisting the public. She said businesspeople heeded her call and assisted. Fonsech says that during this time she witnessed people dying and expectant mothers giving birth in water. “We became close with the public. We fell in the water, as we assisted each other,” she said. Near-death experience “Everyone was panicking, because it was the first flood experienced in the northern regions. “I also nearly lost my life. “My car got stuck in a trench caused by the flood water in the road. “The water was up to my neck, and I was rescued by strangers who later vanished from the scene.” She also visited flood victims and organised programmes for adults on crime prevention. She also organised programmes to entertain children. “While I was assisting the flood victims, my house also became flooded,” she recalls. At the time, Fonsech visited churches, businesses, locations and villages to spread the word about community policing initiatives on the instruction of the Inspector General. “We drove deep into the villages, where the nearest police station is about 80km away. “We went there to educate them on policing, to share police phone numbers and inform them on how they can assist the police to fight crime.” Asked where she sees herself in the future, she says that “God will decide”. Birthday with Nujoma Last year she celebrated her 35th birthday at Sam Nujoma’s farm at Etunda in the Otjozondjupa Region. At the birthday party, Nujoma thanked Nghidinwa for the role she played as a parent in bringing up Fonsech, who did not have the privilege to grow up with her biological parents. Fonsech is one of numerous children whom Nujoma had paid school fees for. The former president nevertheless remembers Fonsech and describes her as a disciplined child, who worked hard to get where she is today. Fonsech said she believes family is not about being related, but about having people who care for you and who love you. She expressed gratitude to her family who understood her job. She says Nujoma was such a person in her life. “That is a tremendous gift I was given by the Almighty.” Fonsech told Namibian Sun that the founding father was a very humble, peaceful and strict person who believed in discipline.