Clr Alison van der Molen, of ward 118, was lashed for her “behaviour” at a recent Sector 1 Crime Forum meeting.
Several residents who attended a recent Sector 1 Crime Forum meeting said they were “disgusted at her disgraceful attitude and conduct” after she disagreed with minutes taken at a previous meeting.
The EXPRESS previously reported that the January sector meeting, held to discuss all crime-related issues, was followed by a special residents meeting that had been called for by people to address concerns such as the deterioration of Cyrildene.
Soon after receiving feedback from a police officer during the sector meeting, fuming residents highlighted their dissatisfaction with Clr Van der Molen. Comments about her apparent lack of feedback and commitment to do her job spilt into the community meeting, which she attended.
Last week a resident, who did not want his name published, said Clr Van der Molen arrived for the sector meeting held the week before, which she said she does not attend as she only attends community police forum meetings, and lashed out at Mr Rob Crawford, who chaired the meeting. She believes the minutes were not a true reflection of what had happened.
“She was not at the previous sector meeting so why contest the minutes? She was only at the meeting held after. I cannot understand why she was so defensive and had a heated, confrontational debate with Mr Rob Crawford. She started playing the blame game again. This is not the way she should be treating residents,” said the resident.
Another resident, who also did not want her name published, said she was shocked at Clr Van der Molen’s behaviour. “She snapped. She was shouting and her actions were not acceptable for a councillor. It is disgusting and disrespectful to storm out of a meeting like that. At the end of the day, Mr Crawford is also a resident in Cyrildene and is entitled to reporting problems and so forth. If this is how a councillor behaves with a community that she serves, in a ward that she was elected to represent, then I don’t know,” said the resident.
The resident said she is tired of Clr Van der Molen constantly blaming residents for everything and not taking responsibility or doing the job she is paid to do.
Ms Olga Mizrahi, who took down the minutes at the January meeting, said Clr Van der Molen’s actions may have just created more animosity.
“I understand that Clr Van der Molen has a tough job but she asks us to provide information and so forth which is provided and we do not see anything happening after this. We know it is not a DA run council but residents feel that she does not support them. No one attacked her at the February meeting. She should have stayed at the meeting because Mr Crawford was calm,” she said.
Another resident said he is tired of constantly being told to submit reference numbers, send her emails, form a residents’ association meeting and so forth. “What is the use? We do all this and we get no feedback. A residents’ association was formed but nothing has changed between us and her,” he said.
Mr Crawford said there are a lot of problems in Cyrildene and Clr Van der Molen should be part of the solution. “She argued that the minutes did not reflect what happened at the previous meeting. She was not at that meeting. She was at the residents’ meeting. This time her information is wrong and she attended the wrong meeting. She attended a sector meeting. When we speak to actual officials at the city we get a response. I report problems to them and those that can be addressed, are. Why can she not do the same for the community? People are getting tired,” he said.
Another resident questioned why Clr Van der Molen is a councillor if they, and people like Mr Crawford, have to do her job.
“She then became aggravated and asked if what we are saying is that we want an ANC councillor. It has nothing to do with politics. I do not care if it is the DA, the ANC or EFF. I just want elected officials to do their jobs. She is having a meeting, tonight, at which only chairpersons of residents’ associations are allowed to attend. Was this to prevent residents from voicing their concerns at the lack of service delivery and feedback? We are entitled to voicing the concerns as rate paying residents. We should be allowed to attend this meeting and get direct feedback,” said the resident.
Speaking about the matter, Mr Godfrey Mothibe, the chairperson of the Cleveland Community Police Forum who also attended the last sector meeting, said residents hoped to have Clr Van der Molen for the duration of the meeting. “She walked away from the meeting in anger. She was given a chance to present her dissatisfaction on the allegations that were levelled against her in the previous residents’ forum meeting. She missed an opportunity whereby we were hoping that she would narrow the gap between the forum and herself in terms of good a working relationship. We are once again calling on the ward councillor to come back to the next Cyrildene Residents Forum meeting. It is in the interest of community members. She is our elected representative at the council to present our issues and matters that affects us on a daily basis. We are hoping that she will accept our request to come and resolve any misunderstanding that might be there between the residents and her,” he said.
