Alex marchers demand the disbandment of the CPF executive
The chairperson of the Alexandra CPF Sarah Matomeamohale has vowed to stay put in her position and accused her detractors of being "power-hungry with a political agenda to infiltrate the forum".
Could this be the beginning of the end for the current executive of the Community Policing Forum (CPF)?
This was after angry residents marched to the Alexandra Police Station on April 26 to demand that the forum vacate its offices.
“Not yet,” countered the current chairperson of the forum Sarah Matomeamohale, who is barely a year in office after she and her executive were elected last September. She made history by being the first woman to occupy that position since the establishment of the organisation at the dawn of democracy in 1994.
In a memorandum handed to the Alex SAPS Commander Brigadier Lindiwe Magudulela during the march, residents claimed the forum was ineffective in the fight against crime and neglected other organisations formed to combat crime such as the community patrollers.
The patrollers recently received praise in a Masiphephe Network meeting attended by Ward 108 residents. The Masiphephe Network is an umbrella body that fights gender-based violence and other abuses within the community of Alexandra.
When receiving the memorandum, Magudulela asked to be given time and meet with the CPF to discuss the issues raised by the community and patrollers before acting on the demands as she needed to get both sides of the story.
A meeting was held on May 5 with the CPF, SAPS and officials from the Gauteng Department of Community Safety and another meeting is scheduled for May 17 with the District CPF.
Matomeamohale acknowledged the demand for her entire executive to vacate office but warned that this was not going to happen anytime soon, saying this was a call made by ‘a few power-hungry people who have a political agenda’.
She claimed the group of patrollers behind the march were disgruntled members who did not want to cooperate with and work closely with the police and refused to be vetted, which she said was a worrying factor.
“I understand that when one is a leader such criticism always comes your way and one just needs to be strong and resilient as such criticism should be to build the individual or institution not to destroy. As CPF Alexandra, forward we go and backwards never,” she said.
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