Edition July 2025

Often, the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) Research and Rescue Unit has the unenviable duty of retrieving dead bodies from some of the murkiest of waters, delivering a devastating blow to a family’s flailing hopes of their loved one’s survival. 

While the task may seem daunting to many, it is a dream job for a young community safety officer and part-time diver who is passionate about helping families get closure in their time of loss.

Born and raised in the Free State 28 years ago, Constable Monica Delport has become one of the most dependable helping hands in some of the province’s most heartbreaking moments – search and recovery missions, following drowning incidents. In the cold, murky waters of the Vaal Dam and surrounding rivers, her role is clear: bring closure to those left behind.

Speaking to Public Sector Manager (PSM) magazine, the confident constable who is based at Zamdela Rural Safety, explores the profile of her role in community safety. 

The Sasolburg descendant explains that her foray into the police was a life-long dream inspired by her father, a respected police officer, and her aunt, a member of the elite K9 Parliamentary Unit in Cape Town. 

“I joined the SAPS in 2019. I have always wanted to be in search and rescue,” she said.

A shining star

Delport did her training at the Graaff-Reinet Training College, where she stood out, not just for her determination, but for her discipline. She was awarded Best Overall Student and named the Fittest Female Recruit in 2019, achievements that would lay the foundation for the challenging path ahead.

After handling community complaints firsthand at the Zamdela Community Service Centre, Delport felt a strong calling to do more – to venture where few others dared. In 2021, she enrolled in an Open Water Diving course, and the following year, she achieved advanced diving certification. It was during an endangered species operation at the Vaal Dam in 2022 that she crossed paths with the SAPS Diving Unit and expressed her keen interest in joining their ranks.

But she did not stop there. Determined to support every aspect of water-based operations, Delport pursued training to earn a skipper’s licence, and since March 2025, she has been authorised to operate SAPS vessels during search and rescue missions.

“Within rural safety, on a day-to-day we do farm visits, inspect cattle, conduct night patrol operations with the farmers because we work hand-in-hand to keep the farming community safe. We also do awareness campaigns in the surrounding communities. When there are problems, we work with the provincial government on how we can solve them and generally assist when there are challenges,” she told PSM.

Her diving work is carried out on an ad hoc basis. 

“When there is a scene on site, we get called in. We first assess the scene and then take it from there and do what is expected. If it is a drowning or disaster, we approach it from that angle. We get a profile of the person and then we do what is called duck-diving.”

Duck-diving is when water rescuers get into the water without scuba equipment.

“You get into the water and you duck dive until you find the body. If you do not find the body, then the search and rescue team proceeds to the actual scuba-diving,” she explained.

Hope for grieving families

Although this aspect of her work is often traumatic, Delport finds solace in being able to offer grief-stricken families the much-needed closure they seek.

“If we were to talk about challenges, it would be mostly that the water in this environment is not always the cleanest, so there are safety measures that we have to take when we take on these operations. The weather conditions are at times also a challenge,” she added.

She described the job of an SAPS diver as a “blessing”.

“After working on scenes, retrieving the bodies and everything that comes with it, it does not affect me that much emotionally. I have a way of shutting down. I believe I was called for this job. The only difficulty is seeing what the families have to go through [after retrieval]. You sympathise with them but you try not to be too emotionally attached,” she said.

“When you are working with families, it is always important to do the operation as quickly as possible for them we try to find their loved ones as quickly as possible so that they can get that closure. It is heartbreaking when you witness the moment.

“When you are down there and you actually find what you are looking for, it is emotional, but it is also a kind of peace. You know you have done something that truly matters.”

The driven Constable now aims to join the SAPS K9 Search and Rescue Unit, where she hopes to blend her diving expertise with the incredible abilities of K9 tracking to save more lives – or help those who are lost. v

*Additional information from SAPS Free State Communication Unit.