The duties performed by members of the Community Policing Forum in all sectors of Phoenix came to a standstill for several days, last week, after three executive members from the Sector 1 CPF, including a pastor, were arrested by SAPS Phoenix on various charges including assault and crimen injuria.
The three accused, Pastor Dickson Murthi, Ajay Athimulum and Poonsamy Pillay appeared at the Phoenix Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, 1 November. In support of the accused, the community came out in their numbers to protest outside court, demanding their release and a dismissal of the charges. The concerned members of CPF Sector 1 and residents of Sector 1, which comprises of Redfern, Whetstone, Industrial Park and Mount Royal, protested outside the court holding placards that read: “Injustice will not be tolerated”, “We will fight against false accusations”, “Crime does not pay”, “It is better to protest than to accept injustice”, and “SAPS must fall”. According to Phoenix SAPS communications officer, Captain Louise Naidoo, said the three accused CPF members were charged for assault, damage to property and crimen injuria. She said: “The complainant was driving in the area of Sector 6, in Bhambayi, around 10pm when he was stopped by the three CPF members. They questioned what he was doing in the area and his keys were pulled out of the ignition causing the ignition to be damaged. The victim was further assaulted and sworn at by the members. He later opened up a case which led to the arrest of the three CPF members.”
Speaking to The Phoenix Tabloid outside court, Lenzo Pillay of the Sector 1 CPF said: “When we have an incident in Phoenix where there is a corpse lying on the ground, the SAPS take hours to attend to the scene because there’s a lack of resources, yet in this instance, for a common assault case, SAPS appointed three vehicles to go and pick up a pastor – an upstanding resident. This is a gross misuse of the resources of Phoenix SAPS. We then had a similar convoy to pick up the other two members. When we questioned the police where the resources came from, we were told to stand down. Our protection is enshrined in the constitution, there’s nobody above the law. The application of the law by those in power must remain the same to everyone. Police cannot choose to abuse the power just to prove a point because a charge was laid by a friend.” He said the Sector 1 CPF has been doing a brilliant job in terms of protecting and keeping communities safe since they were elected in February. “The good work of the CPF members has definitely ruffled the criminal elements who are now hell bent on a vendetta against our CPF members and their families. There was no sign of assault to the person who opened up charges or any damage to his vehicle. The charges were only opened a week later, which tells you that there’s something amiss. It’s shocking that SAPS Phoenix would throw so much of resources to attend to a case that’s a trivial matter and only reported one week after the alleged incident,” added Pillay.
Ward 52 Councillor Samier Singh, who was part of the protest, said the community came to support the CPF members who were falsely accused for assault among other charges. “The charges against the members are false and and the concerned members of the public have gathered to protest against these false accusations. The public is saying hands off CPF members who are protecting the community daily. We believe that the partnership between SAPS Phoenix and the CPF should be one that is strong as they work very closely with one another. With the members not receiving any support from SAPS, this has caused much anger in the community. There’s no evidence to support the case, we strongly believe that anyone who takes the law into their own hands must be investigated, in the same light, anyone who is wrongfully accused must receive justice,” said the ward councillor. MPL Bradley Singh said: “We are very concerned when CPF members are being accused and charged, however, we know that our CPF members have been vetted by SAPS and we support them. We believe in the rule of law and everyone is innocent until proven guilty. We thank members of the community who are standing by our CPF members.” All CPF duties resumed on Friday, 4 November 2022.
