Ministerial Directives Make CPF Elections More Inclusive

The Minister of Community Safety, Albert Fritz, calls on all Community Police Forums (CPFs) to abide by the ‘Community Policing Forums (CPFs) Annual General Meeting (AGM) Directives and Guidelines’ (the Directives) throughout the process of electoral AGMs.

These Directives were issued to allow for all community based organisations including Neighbourhood Watch Structures (NHW), NGOs and the religious fraternity to participate in CPFs at the station-level. The ‘Uniform Constitution for Community Police Forums and Boards in the Western Cape’ (the Uniform Constitution) was drafted in 2010. However, it is now outdated and no longer aligned with current legislation, particularly the Civilian Secretariat for Police Act and the Western Cape Community Safety Act.

Minister Fritz has expressed concern that the outdated Uniform Constitution is being used by a few within the Provincial Community Policing Board to side-line community based organisations. Paragraphs 11.5 and 11.6 of the Uniform Constitution state that:

“11.5 Community safety and victim support structures/associations will only have one vote each and must, after registration, designate one member to vote on their behalf.

11.6 For the purpose of voting, community-based organizations, institutions, bodies, except political parties, will as far as possible, be clustered according to their aims and objectives in terms of their sectors and the cluster must after clustering appoint a representative to vote on behalf of the cluster.”

Minister Fritz said, “The Uniform Constitution is clearly not aligned with the spirit of the Western Cape Community Safety Act (the Act). The Act aims to make CPFs inclusive of all community based organisations. Conversely, the clustering of organisations is cumbersome as it aims to pool together organisations that represent different audiences, interests and concerns. Historically, these provisions have resulted in a lack of representation of NHWs and community structures on CPFs, in turn, causing much tension.”

Minister Fritz added, “The Directives were issued within the ambit of the legislative powers of the province. They were issued following much consultation and received confirmation from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), the National Civilian Secretariat for Police and from SAPS. It is unfortunate that the functionality of all 151 CPFs in the Western Cape is now compromised because of a dysfunctional few. I therefore call on the Provincial Commissioner to lift the moratorium he has placed on CPF AGMs and allow communities to elect their leadership.”

Under the leadership of Minister Fritz, the Department of Community Safety remains committed to facilitating and overseeing successful CPF elections throughout the Province.