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KENSINGTON
New CPF to lend a hand KAYLYNNE BANTOM KAYLYNNE.BANTOM@MEDIA24.COM
T
he newly elected members from the Kensington community policing forum (CPF) are ready to serve. The members were chosen on Tuesday 8 December during the annual general meeting at the Shawco Centre. The voting delegates consisted of members from registered organisations. The meeting was declared quorate with 20 out of 22 organisations present. Some residents were also present. Cheslyn Steenberg (27) from the youth organisation Frontiers: Youth Serving Youth, was elected as CPF chair while Sibusiso Mtila, representing the ANC Wilfred Rhodes branch, was voted deputy chair. Esther Julius, from the Kenfac Toy Library, was elected as secretary and Sgt Angeline Ah-Sing from Kensington police is assistant secretary. Magdalene Bonaparte was elected as treasurer, Ashwin Jansen as project coordinator and Mymoena Anthony as public relations officer. Additional members are Erica Isaacs (former chair), Fatima Bakkus and Suleigah Bardien. Steenberg says he is ready to take on his new role. He says it is about time that the CPF must rebuild, reconnect and go back to their roots as being the bridge between the police and the community. “Part of my vision is to put preventative programmes in place to reach out to our youth before they become targets to gangs who want to recruit them.” He says their core aims as the CPF is to be transparent and share information with the community. “We want to engage with people and to open up platforms for communication. I think it’s about time we move with the times and start doing our meetings via livestream
New Kensington community policing forum (CPF) members are ready to serve their community. so that residents are kept in the loop with what is happening.” This is something Steenberg feels was lacking before. Steenberg’s plea to the community is to work together: “I know it will not happen overnight, but we will do our best to regain the trust of the community and the police. Because it is not only the resident’s that have lost trust in the police, but also vice versa. This is something we hope to rectify.” Anthony says: “We commit ourselves to the mandate of the CPF as enacted in the Saps Act, we will strive to uphold the impor-
tance of building sustainable relationships with the community and the Kensington police in pursuit of a safer community for all.” Kensington police station commander Lt Col Fanie Scanlen welcomed the appointment of the new members. He says partnerships with the community through CPF channels is an effective way to accomplish common goals and to uplift the community and the youth. Scanlen says contact crimes due to gang activities remain a massive challenge in the area and says he hopes that by working to-
gether with the community on this issue, that it can be eradicated. The officer reminded members that their first obligation should be the residents they serve. “I hope that a strong, healthy and working partnership is forged and that the newly elected members realize the enormous obligation that rests upon them with the position they agreed to take; and that it is not about them as individuals but about the position they now represent in order to uplift the community,” Scanlen concludes.
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