EDITOR – I refer to the article that appeared on page 2 of the Bedfordview and Edenvale News on Wednesday, August 5, titled “Calls for unity in Edenvale”.
The chairperson of the Edenvale CPF, Mrs Linda McKenzie, has a very bizarre method of achieving unity.
In the CPF meeting of Thursday, July 30, she once again attacked the Democratic Alliance unjustifiably and it is for this reason I am compelled to respond to the article.
I must point out that I, like most of the residents of Edenvale, are exhausted by Mrs McKenzie’s continuous and unwarranted attacks on the DA and have still to determine what political agenda is behind Mrs McKenzie’s attacks.
I actually spend more time dealing with Mrs McKenzie’s attacks than I do holding the ANC to account.
So let us start from the beginning.
At the CPF’s January meeting, Mrs McKenzie allowed a member of the public to attack the DA.
This when the CPF constitution clearly states that CPF meetings are to be apolitical and are meant to deal only with local crime issues as Mrs McKenzie well knows.
The DA’s attempts to defend themselves and efforts by MPL Graham Gersbach to explain the role of councillors and how they are limited from interfering directly in officials’ tasks were shouted down by the resident concerned.
Even a letter to the NEWS explaining the situation went unpublished.
At the February meeting of the CPF, Mrs McKenzie again allowed residents to attack the DA, with one resident stating she was, “Making it her mission to destroy the DA in Edenvale” and another resident inferring that Councillor Hart accepts bribes.
The resident was not put to the proof and the comment was allowed to float.
At the April CPF meeting, none of the DA public representatives attended due to other commitments.
It was at this meeting that Col Trollip made his remark that a resident has trashed the Edenvale SAPS on radio.
This was then put onto the Edenvale Community Facebook page as an Edenvale DA Councillor; the NEWS picked up on this and asked for comment from the CPF and DA.
We issued a statement, stating we had no knowledge of any DA councillor being responsible for those comments. In addition, we said that there appeared to be forces trying to discredit the DA and that the CPF has allowed their meetings to be used as a platform for this purpose.
Mrs McKenzie was quoted in the NEWS stating, “She and other executive members of the CPF were in the process of obtaining a copy of the show on which the alleged comments were made.”
To date, the chairperson Mrs McKenzie, nor any other member of the executive of the Edenvale CPF, have made their findings public, despite requesting the outcome of such an investigation at the CPF AGM on Thursday, June 25.
I am led to believe that Mrs McKenzie has admitted to a member of the general public that she heard it was an Edenvale resident who had mentioned (on 702) that if a DA councillor can’t get a case addressed after four years, what chance did an ordinary citizen have?
She has not apologised or made any effort to set the matter straight.
The May meeting of the CPF was suspended by Mrs McKenzie after she had addressed the meeting, stating that the MEC had instructed her to suspend the meeting, due to recording equipment being present at the meeting.
Questions asked in Parliament by myself show that Mrs McKenzie deliberately misled the meeting as it was an official who told her to stop the meeting, not the MEC.
An official I may add, who had no authority to stop the meeting.
Mrs McKenzie used the excuse that the DA was going to record the meeting which was not allowed; this is also untrue as all the meetings are indeed recorded, in fact every phone has a recording device.
In addition, the CPF meetings are open to the entire public so the recording of such meetings should be encouraged.
On top of it all, Mrs McKenzie also misled the Minister. When I ask a written question in Parliament, asking for the reasons that the meeting was suspended, he stated that Mrs McKenzie said the DA representatives were wearing DA paraphernalia/name badges. This is a blatant lie as DA councillor’s were wearing their councillors’ badges, provided for by the Ekurhuleni Metro so that residents can identify them as is expected of all public representatives in the Ekurhuleni Metro.
At the June CPF elections, which we regard as not being free and fair as there was no public notice regarding the elections and the presiding officer was clearly biased in Mrs McKenzie’s favour, I asked for answers to the following questions:
- The investigation by the CPF executive re the radio broadcast.
- DA members wearing badges.
- The fact that the MEC has not given permission for the meeting to be suspended.
Again, no replies were forthcoming, in fact I was instructed by the Presiding Officer to sit down!
To date, these questions have remained unanswered.
Then we get to the July CPF meeting, where Mrs McKenzie in her chairperson’s report stated the following, “I am aware of a certain political party doing its best to discredit the CPF.” She continued by stating, “The CPF is an a-political forum that assists in fighting crime and working together with the community and the SAPS.”
And ended her attack on the DA by saying, “I appeal to the DA to not divide our community. We are all here to carry out a function, so please stick to yours and we will stick to ours,” she said.
Let me be clear Mrs McKenzie, the DA is not dividing our community, if anyone is, you are!
If you want to enter the political area, please do so, but stop using the CPF to further your own political goals.
I have written to the Provincial SAPS Commissioner, the MEC for Safety and Security and the Minister of Police about your unacceptable conduct.
I consider this matter closed and the DA will not enter into any further correspondence with you.
In addition, it saddens me to inform the public that DA public representatives will not be attending the Edenvale CPF meetings until such time as it truly does become apolitical and focuses on what it is intended to – fight crime.
The DA will continue to support the Edenvale SAPS, as we have done for many years and yes, we will also ensure rogue cops are fired from the SAPS, but we will do this separate from the CPF.
MICHAEL WATERS Democratic Alliance MP
- Letter received August 14.
EDITOR’S COMMENT – Chairperson for the Edenvale Community Police Forum (ECPF), Mrs Linda McKenzie commented as follows:
Due to the misinformation that is being bandied about, the ECPF executive committee requested a meeting with the DA councillors including Mike Waters.
Mike Waters declined to meet by saying, “I see no point in meeting with you” and that “there is no need for further correspondence” but chooses to communicate through the media.
Before the March CPF meeting, several residents approached the ECPF and requested a meeting be set up between them and the ward councillors as they felt they did not have a platform from which they could address council related issues.
I then called Clr Bill Rundle who agreed to host the meeting with the residents after the CPF meeting.
On the night of the meeting, after the CPF meeting had closed, the floor was handed to Clr Rundle.
The SAPS and the CPF left the meeting before residents posed their questions to Clr Rundle.
Only afterwards we found out the residents meeting with Clr Rundle turned into a screaming match.
On social media, it was stated that the attack took place during the CPF meeting which the case.
I am at a loss to know what Mr Waters describes as my “political agenda” could be as I have no political affilation whatsoever, neither do I have any rancour against any political party.
I do strongly feel that unity is required and responding to this via the paper is not the correct route to take.
We felt holding a meeting on a private platform would be of a greater benefit to all concerned and more importantly, the community of Edenvale.
Our focus is on Community Policing.
At the last Broader Forum Meeting, we the CPF, urged the community not to be divided but to stand together.
A resident, Mr Roarke Lessing, called for Unity in Edenvale.
Let it be placed on record that today, I am again making that request.
For the good of the community, for the betterment of Edenvale, let us all stand together.
EDITOR’S COMMENT – In response to MP Mike Waters’ comment regarding a letter not published following the January Edenvale Community Police Forum: the NEWS didn’t publish any of the allegations made at the January meeting against the DA. There was no existing right of reply as these allegations were not published.
