Community Policing Forum (CPF) leaders from the Cape Flats say they were barred from a closed-door meeting with Deputy President Paul Mashatile at the Lentegeur police station, raising concerns that the engagement would not reflect the true reality of crime on the ground.
The Deputy President arrived at the station to brief with senior leadership from multiple law enforcement agencies—including the South African Police Service, the South African National Defence Force, and Correctional Services—as part of his visit to communities affected by the SANDF deployment under Operation Prosper. However, CPF representatives who say they were initially invited were later turned away at the door.
A CPF representative from Sector One covering multiple areas in Mitchells Plain said the exclusion undermined the partnership between communities and law enforcement.
“We have been invited to be part of this and we’re very much excited about it because we are going to be talking directly to the highest office in the land,” the representative stated. “Our frustration is that we have just been told from inside that we should not go in because this is a high-level kind of a meeting. We are not supposed to be here—it’s Brigadiers who must be in here.”
The representative recounted being asked for credentials by a senior officer identified as Brigadier or General Portella, despite CPF volunteers being first responders in high-crime areas. “We are the first people to be called upon when something happens… at ordinary hours, extraordinary hours—10, 9, 11 at night—and now today we are told to get out of the meeting. We are not happy about it.”
The CPF representative also raised systemic concerns, including perceived laxity among some police officers, difficulties in lodging complaints, and the transfer of experienced detectives away from the province. “They complain about our being under-resourced,” the representative noted, adding that new recruits require years of training to reach the caliber of those reassigned.
A CPF chairperson from the Lentegeur and Mitchells Plain area echoed these sentiments, describing the exclusion as “a slap in the face.”
“We thought when we received the invite late last night that we would have an opportunity to engage with the Deputy President on the issue of crime that is dear to us because we are volunteers and we want to work with the police, work with government,” the chairperson said. “What we experienced today… I’m not welcome in my own home. If that is government’s response to us as a community, as volunteers, then we need to review our relationship with government, with the police, and other stakeholders.”
The chairperson emphasized that despite the visible SANDF presence, violent crime persists. “Two weeks ago we had a double murder in Mitchells Park, one of our hotspot areas,” they said. They outlined community-led safety initiatives through the Mitchells Plain Safety and Development Forum, which has identified five priority zones for intervention: Montrose Park, Beacon Valley, Hyde Park, Tafelsig, Rocklands, and Strandfontein. Proposed measures include holiday programs for children aged 5 to 14 to keep youth safe and engaged during school breaks.
Both spokespersons warned that crime statistics cited in official briefings—such as data from Elsies River and Hanover Park between 2021 and 2025—may be skewed without direct community input. “The engagement will never be a true reflection with the exclusion of the communities,” the first representative asserted. “It will never be an authentic picture because they’ll be talking under assumptions.”
The incident has intensified calls for more inclusive, transparent collaboration between state security structures and grassroots crime-fighting volunteers in the Cape Flats, where gang violence and resource constraints continue to challenge public safety efforts.
