Spy boss' passion for serving people

CALL: COPS NEED BUY-IN FROM PUBLIC, PRIVATE SECURITY TO BUST CRIME

- Hein Kaiser

There are all kinds of preconceived notions harboured before meeting someone.

Major-general Feroz Khan, one of South Africa's top crime busting cops, shatters every single one of them. He's a humble, soft-spoken man whose drive to serve is evident in almost everything he does.

"When I was working as a personal protector for former president Nelson Mandela, he once told me that a jet cannot turn back in a storm. It must press on. It's one of the phrases that has really influenced my life."

He has spent 36 years in the blue: from being a young constable in Soweto, to looking after presidents and, now, heading intelligence and counterintelligence for Crime Intelligence and with that, the Anti-Kidnap Unit.

It's been a controversial ride, but Khan is not fazed by the politics of it all.

"I care about one thing and it's the same thing that I have always cared about: serving people. It's a calling, being a police officer. It's so much more than just a job or a position," he said.