Kuils River Community Police Forum chairman Clive Hendricks has resigned, accusing the local police precinct of being inept and uncooperative.
Mr Hendricks handed his resignation to the CPF executive last week after two years in the position.
His relationship with Kuils River police chief Colonel JT Naidoo and the officers under his command had broken down irretrievably because he had been dogged in his efforts to get them to do their jobs, he said.
“I was having too much problems with the Kuils River police. They’re just an absolute mess.”
He claimed he and his adult son had accompanied a Kuils River woman to the station last year to open a case about her missing son, but the police had refused to help her.
“(In November 2021) The police opened a case against me because I tried to assist a lady with opening a case at midnight. They did not want to open the doors to the police station for this lady. She had been there three times that day.”
He accused the Kuils River police of stonewalling members of the public who queried the status of cases.
Mr Hendricks said police had charged him with intimidation and his son with assault after they had tried to help the woman at the police station.
“Like I am capable of intimidating people with firearms. They say I intimidated police officers. How could that be? How could you assault a policeman at the police station and they let you walk out?” Mr Hendricks said.
Describing his relationship with the Kuils River police, he said: “It was bad right from the beginning. The station commander (Colonel Naidoo) just did not want to co-operate with the CPF.
“We lodged several complaints (regarding the lack of co-operation) with the provincial police management. I went and had meetings with the major-general (Thembisile Patekile, the provincial police commissioner), but there is no accountability in the police.”
He said he planned to open a civil case against the police.
It’s not the first time Mr Hendricks has criticised policing in Kuils River. In a meeting with the crime-ravaged Kalkfontein community and SAPS management late last year, he described the local policing as “broken”.
Asked about his relationship with Mr Hendricks, Colonel Naidoo said: “Go ask him, I think you must ask him. I am not in the position to answer that for him.”
He said he could not comment on the cases of intimidation and assault against Mr Hendricks and his son as they were still pending.
The CPF’s vice-chairman, Neville Botha, when asked about its relationship with the Kuils River police, said: “Hundred percent. No problem.”
They would elect a new chairperson in a month or six weeks, he said.
Pressed on the cases against Mr Hendricks and his son, CPF public relations officer Therlo Wakefield said that was a personal matter and did not relate to CPF business.
Department of Community Safety spokeswoman Ameerah Kenny said they were unaware of the skirmishes between Mr Hendricks and police but his resignation should have no bearing on the CPF structure.
On his plans going forward, Mr Hendricks said: “I will apply myself in the community where I started in the sector forums. That was my joy.”
