Last week’s Bellville Community Police Forum (BCPF) meeting saw drama unforetold, with the sudden announcement of the resignation of the organisation’s head and a speaker being told to leave the hall.
The meeting was led by vice-chair Leonie van der Merwe, who announced the resignation of former chair, Sean Mcleland, due to “personal reasons”.
The position of chair is held for a term of five years and was last held for this period of time by Hennie Koekemoer, who finished in 2020.
Since then, four people have taken the helm and resigned – Chery Quantrill, Jean Beukman, Phillip Moller and Mcleland.
Mcleland didn’t want to comment on rumours that he left the organisation after falling out with another committee member.
Sex workers
The different neighbourhood watches then had the opportunity to talk about the biggest issues affecting their areas, with representatives from the Chrismar NHW talking about the problem building in Mooigezicht Street and members of Oakdale talking about the illegally large bus stop in Mabel Street.
Arguably, the biggest drama of the night came after various remarks by different neighbourhood watches regarding sex workers in their areas.
The patrollers said police weren’t quick enough to arrest perpetrators and the problem was especially worrisome as sexual acts were done in front of schools and next to houses.
Brig Phindiwe Ntungele, station commander, took to the stage and said other roleplayers like the National Prosecuting Agency (NPA) and law enforcement (LE) should also be invited to attend these meetings, as issues were not confined to the police alone.
Ntungele said the police’s hands were chopped off because there was a court order made in 2009 after the police were taken to court by the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Task Force (Sweat) regarding the arrest of sex workers.
Sweat advertises itself as an organisation with the vision of promoting a “South Africa where people who choose to sell sex are able to enjoy freedom, rights and human dignity.”
Ntungele said they mainly deter sex work by patrolling hot spots and keeping regular customers at bay.
She remarked how she was frustrated by this issue herself and how there was an “ugly prostitute” with “big thighs” who she saw on a regular basis and how she irritated her.
It was easier in previous years she said, when they would just load many suspected sex workers into a van and this would work as a deterrent.
She then proceeded to say the department of labour was needed in many cases, as “foreigners” were often the problem.
It is uncertain whether she knew that Eugene van Rooyen, Sweat Western Cape area manager, was in the audience.
He was called on to talk and said he found it “very disrespectful” of the group to talk about “prostitutes” instead of sex workers.
He also found Ntungele’s remarks about foreigners and sex workers unpleasant.
The word “prostitute” is found distasteful by many, as it criminalises and demeans people.
Van Rooyen didn’t have time to talk as he was immediately lambasted by numerous people in the crowd who told him to keep quiet.
“Do you want to go on record saying I should stop talking?” he asked Van der Merwe.
A neighbourhood watch member interrupted and said he would like to know what to do “when prostitutes do it like animals in front of my house”.
Asked to leave
Van Rooyen said that’s what he was trying to say – that the station commander wasn’t telling the whole truth about the court order.
The court order only says police cannot arrest someone for sex work if they don’t intend on prosecuting them.
They can’t drive around with them aimlessly or keep them in cells where they are treated like criminals if the police won’t take the matter to court.
And they can only be taken to court with proof.
Someone then proceeded to ask whether they should take a video of events, but he was interrupted by others yelling at Van Rooyen to go.
He then asked again whether Van der Merwe would like to go on record that he had to leave the meeting and she agreed, saying “we all feel the same way about foreigners”.
On Monday, Van Rooyen said he felt the meeting was very disappointing.
“I really wanted a reasonable discussion with people aimed at getting solutions and they clearly just wanted opportunities to vent.
“I was there and (they just wanted to vent). I don’t think that takes us closer to any solutions.”
He said it was important to engage with people who have opposing views.
Asked whether he would attend the event again to share his knowledge he said he would, but only with certain conditions.
“I won’t engage a space where people use words like prostitute and prossies or where a station commander goes on to use words like fat and ugly.”
