Bellville South CPF pulls out of feeding projects

The Bellville South CPF has suspended its assistance to soup kitchens in the area

The Bellville South Community Police Forum has stopped helping soup kitchens and other feeding projects in the area because of the rising number of Covid-19 cases.

The CPF took the decision after the Bellville South police station charge office was closed for 48 hours after a staff member there tested positive for Covid-19. Charge-office functions were moved to another building at the headquarters. The charge office reopened on Monday.

A spokesman for the CPF, David Cecil, said the incident showed how big a toll Covid-19 was taking on the area cluster.

“Although the CPF’s involvement in community projects is not dependent on the opening or closing of a police station, we, as a CPF, work in conjunction with our local SAPS, and as we are aware there is currently no vaccine for the virus, so the only workable solution to this epidemic is social distancing. This has led us to make the difficult decision to suspend our involvement with feeding schemes and soup kitchens until further notice.”

The CPF had decided it should pull out of community projects where it could not guarantee strict compliance with Covid-19 countermeasures, he said.

“We have communicated to our neighborhood watches and sector forum’s that we would continue supporting if and when an emergency arises but that it would have to be under strict Covid-19 rules.”

Provincial police spokeswoman Brigadier Novela Potelwa confirmed that services had resumed at Bellville South police station charge office, following its closure on Saturday April 25. The charge office had been decontaminated, she said, and staff who had had contact with the infected person had been quarantined after being screened and tested.