If you were to try and place all of those whose lives have been touched by Shirley Aldum – either directly or indirectly – under one roof, chances are that you would not find a venue big enough in all of Cape Town.
After 20 years of being of service to the community in her role as manager of the Rondebosch Community Improvement District (RCID), Aldum will be hanging up her boots come the end of September.
A small group of her nearest and dearest gathered at the Silwood Cookery School on Wednesday 7 September to say a fond farewell to this phenomenal woman as she and her husband, Butch, get ready to retire to the West Coast.
WO Lyndon Sisam, spokesperson for the Rondebosch Police Station, who has worked closely with Aldum for the past two decades, shares he had always hoped that it would be Aldum at the end of the corridor, saying goodbye to him.
“I have a year and five months left before I retire. I always wished that she was going to be the one who says goodbye to me. Now it is the other way around.”
Sisam says when Aldum first introduced herself all those many years ago, she described herself as the jam between the bread that would bring the safety and security stakeholders together – the police, the community and private security.
“And I think over the years, that’s exactly what she did. I think her passion for bringing the community closer to the police and the police closer to the community. And she got that right in many ways,” he says.
These “many ways” include countless community and fundraising projects that Aldum either had a hand in or initiated on behalf of the RCID.
“I remember we were talking in 2004. We were planning on having a room at the station to take statements in private so that people didn’t have to stand at the counter. And immediately she put her hand up and asked if she could be involved in the fundraising,” says Sisam.
“Then there was a joint project at St Joseph’s College where we brought all these different homeowners and SAPS together. It was like a family day for the whole Rondebosch community, all coming there, getting to know the cops,” he says.
Another example is the Eden and Eve Project which focuses on educating and informing domestic workers and gardeners working in Rondebosch on safety, domestic abuse and the correct procedures to follow.
“I had this project running and then she said, ‘listen, I want to partner with you from the RCID’s side’. That is running since then up until today,” he says.
Bruce Burmeister, chair of RCID, says what Aldum has achieved over the years is incredible.
“When I think of all the street braais, the Adams and Eves, all of the fundraising that she’s done. We had fires in various places, at UCT (University of Cape Town). Shirley would just rally the community and a whole lot of things and then she kind of tells me after, ‘By the way…’
“And sometimes I would phone Shirley and say, ‘I think’, and then she will tell me, ‘I’ve already done it’.”
Burmeister says besides Aldum’s quiet determination in getting a job done, what he has always admired about her is the special way in which she interacts with the community.
“She has a wonderful sense of humour, and most of it all, she listens and has a wonderful, compassionate way of understanding and dealing with residents,” he says.
Tommy Milakovic, manager of Fidelity ADT, says Aldum is going to be sorely missed.
“She created such a huge impact in the area, she is so well known in Rondebosch. Shirley just had a way about her to get everybody to work together, whether it was Saps or ADT, law enforcement, you name it.”
Barbara Breedt, general manager of Groote Schuur Community Improvement District (GSCID), says it was a bit of a shock when she heard that Aldum was retiring from RCID. Breedt’s relationship with Aldum dates back to when Breedt was the station commander at Rondebosch Police Station.
“When somebody who is so good at what she does leaves, you always think but who is going to replace her, who is going to be able to do those kinds of things that she has done?”
Breedt says Aldum was like the community’s mother.
“If there was an issue or anything, like if you needed assistance, she was always on top of everything. She will go out of her way to ensure that things at the station run properly, for example, if a member passed away, then she is there.”
Bernard Soules, chair of Rondebosch CPF, says with Aldum also being the CPF’s secretary, they too are losing a valuable member of their team. He jokes that the RCID now owes the CPF a secretary.
Soules first met Aldum about 20 years ago when he, as a UCT employee, had to represent the institution at Rondebosch Police safety meetings.
“Shirley was the one who started to groom me for CPF. She taught me what the CPF is about, even when she was the chair of the CPF, I learned such a lot from her.”
He says it is difficult to describe in words what Aldum means for the CPF.
“Whenever we needed something done, we knew the secretary was going to help us, whether it fell in her portfolio or not. That is how committed she is.”
A quiet fell over the merry meeting on Wednesday when it was Aldum’s turn to talk. She said she had been working in the corporate environment for many years when she saw the advertisement for an RCID manager in a local community newspaper. She said something just struck her and she thought she would apply.
“And in 2002 I arrived at Bishop’s. It was a little wooden hut, and it was on the lawn opposite the music school. So I always had music playing in the background. And it was lovely. I had this little house, I always used to call it my wood-panelled office with the best view of the mountain.”
Aldum described the past 20 years as an exciting journey, saying she never woke up a single morning, thinking that she didn’t want to go to work today.
“It has always just been a pleasure to go and it is mainly because of the amazing community that I worked with and the committee. You have all played a very integral part. To all the past and present committee members, to friends, there are so many people.
“Thank you. I can assure you my memories will last forever.”
