Warrant Officer Anel Esterhuizen, a public order policing trainer, medic, a nyala and water cannon operator shares how she’s navigated working in a male-dominated environment.
SAPS Warrant Officer Anel Esterhuizen. Picture: Supplied
Warrant Officer Anel Esterhuizen was almost brought to tears remembering how tough it was being raised by her father after her mother died when she was only three-years-old but she said that being raised by her father gave her the courage to be able to work in a male-dominated environment.
During a Phenomenal Women feature interview, Esterhuizen said that her father taught her self-defence.
“My dad brought me up and he taught how to physically defend myself and how to get out of tight situations. It helped a lot because being in a male-dominated field did not intimidate me.”
Warrant Officer Esterhuizen is an all-rounder within the South African Police Services (SAPS), with 31 years of uninterrupted service as a training instructor in the public order police environment. She is also a trained medic who first started with a basic ambulance course.
Esterhuizen also drives the casspir and its replacement, the nyala, as well as the water cannon truck used during protests and riots. However, she said that it was hard achieving all those skills.
“It was a lot of hard work in training, my commanders gave me a chance to go further in my career. My husband was with me all the time helping me raise our small child and he helped me a lot as I was going through training,” the warrant officer said.
Armed with an array of courses in crowd management, she is a resident trainer at the Western Cape public order police unit and is passionate about training other members of the SAPS.
“I’m not worried about going up the ranks as my passion is in helping members of the police, especially when injured at a scene,” Esterhuizen said.
Listen to the full conversation below
For all the latest lifestyle News Click Here
