Parkview will soon see an operational CPF
Parkview community is urged to attend AGMs and be participating citizens.
Internal disagreements and disputes have left the Parkview precinct with a defunct Community Policing Forum (CPF) for four months.
To elect a new Parkview CPF, the Parkview Police Station Commander, Colonel Nkopane Jacob Mabusela, the Department of Community Safety’s Thabo Thipe, and the Johannesburg District Community Police Board Secretary-General Mahmood Cassim held a public meeting at 1st Greenside Scout Hall in Greenside on April 3.
Station commander Colonel Nkopane Jacob Mabusela said, “There was an interim CPF, which was unsuccessful. We then decided to involve the community and allow them to elect and choose people to oversee a new CPF, which is why we are here today.”
Read more: Norwood CPF Sector 1 reflects on five years of transformation and security improvements
Thipe said Gauteng had 132 police stations, and by law, there should be 132 operational CPFs.
He added, “There were two attempts to elect a CPF, but we found that only one sector of the community out of the two had nominees, while the other did not. A decision to elect an interim committee was made, to work towards [holding a meeting] where community members expressed their views on the CPF election processes which had not been explained thoroughly.”
Thipe added while the interim committee had served its purpose, the members had resigned in December due to in-house politics.
“As it stands, there is no CPF in the Parkview precinct. Recently, we received calls from the concerned community, who suggested we initiate the CPF formation process from the beginning. We sat with the residents’ associations and agreed that the first step would be a public meeting.”
Mabusela noted the poor attendance of members of Sector 1 at the meeting. “I am not sure if they were informed, but Sector 2’s attendance is in the majority for now. As residents, we want to hear what the way forward is from the community so that we have a day where both sectors are fully represented.”
Parkview consists of two sectors, which are made up of:
Sector 1: Parkhurst, Parktown North, Craighall Park, and Dunkeld West.
Sector 2: Emmarentia, Greenside, Westcliff, Parkview, Parktown West, Roosevelt Park, and Greenside West.
People who are eligible to stand in a sector forum or CPF:
- South African citizens.
- A person must be a resident in that community sector.
- A person must have a business or work in that sector.
- A person must not have a criminal record (a vetting process will be carried out, and fingerprints will be checked. NB: A member who has a criminal record that is 10 years or older can enquire at Pretoria to have the record expunged.)
The following people can participate in a CPF but cannot hold executive positions:
- Members of SAPS.
- People who work in provincial and national positions, legislatures, and ward councillors.
- Members of any traffic department.
- Members of the defence force.
Also read: Norwood CPF urges residents to help make a difference
CPF elections
- Community members will be allowed to nominate and elect CPF members at the sector crime forum meeting.
- Both sectors will have executive committees, and depending on the number of people elected at the sector crime forum meeting, that number will be part of the elective CPF AGM to elect a particular CPF.
- Both sectors should have equal representation in the executive committee. Those who are elected will serve for five years in the sector crime forum and the CPF level.
- Proxy votes will not be allowed.
- AGMs must be advertised properly on social media platforms.
- Community members are at liberty to object to the process, and objections must be submitted in writing within seven working days.
- A CPF and sector crime forum meets once a week.
The proposed election dates are:
Sector 1: May 8 at 18:30
Sector 2: May 7 at 18:30
Executive committee meeting elections AGM: May 21 at 18:30
The venues will be communicated on media platforms closer to the dates.
Thipe concluded that an observation he made was the lack of community effort and participation in Parkview, which is why the public meeting was held to see if community members could attend and discuss their issues with authorities who could understand their concerns.
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