Sophiatown CPF meeting ends in chaos
SOPHIATOWN – CPF drama seems to have no end in sight any time soon as meeting is abandoned.
A recent CPF meeting ended in chaos as members failed to find common ground.
The meeting that was supposed to take the Sophiatown Community Policing Forum (CPF) forward following the disbandment of the executive committee ended in pure chaos on 13 January. The purpose of the meeting was to address grievances people in the Sophiatown Policing Precinct had with the election of executive committee members, communication and representation. Present at the meeting was the interim CPF structure along with the former structure, various community members, the police and Johannesburg Cluster chairperson Dr Gulam Karim.
With representatives from sectors 1 through 4, the meeting began in an orderly fashion to discover ways to rectify issues facing the CPF. Among the issues that needed to be addressed was the flaws and confusion over the sub-sector 1 and 2’s elections which took place at the end of 2019. Many shared sentiments that the interim CPF structure was working in a manner where they were not consulted or involved. As they went back and forth on the matter the order that was there at the beginning of the meeting slowly started disappearing.
The meeting was thrown into disarray when one of the people at the meeting began threatening another. The antics came at around the time those leading the meeting stated that one of the potential ways of resolving this is to redo the sub-sector election processes. The man repeatedly pointed his finger at the elderly gentlemen stating that this should be the last time the elder man interrupted him. The rest of the people at the meeting took it upon themselves to condemn the man’s actions. That was when people started standing up from their chairs and shouting.
Within no time police present at the meeting along with other individuals had to separate those at loggerheads. People began to exit the room in which the meeting was hosted and the meeting before a solution could be reached, was brought to an abrupt end. The hostility between the parties continued outside as any abandoned the purpose of the meeting.
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