Coffee machine appeal brews public support

What started as an effort to replace a stolen coffee machine has become one of the most remarkable public displays of support for a police officer in recent years. Within days of being cleared by the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, veteran Hawks narcotics investigator warrant officer Karl Sander found himself at the centre of a fundraising campaign that has attracted more than R200 000 from South Africans determined to recognise his decades of service. The BackaBuddy campaign was initially launched with a modest target of R5 000 to replace a coffee machine stolen from Sander’s office.