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“I am shocked,” says the mayor of Dübendorf, André Ingold, about the events at the social welfare office. The city has now taken several steps “to clear the table.”
Temporarily without power: Social Director and SVP Cantonal Councilor Jacqueline Hofer.
Stock Photo
At the end of August, the “Tages-Anzeiger” reported on the complaints at the social welfare office in Dübendorf. The serious abuses were described in a previously secret investigative report. These were welfare recipients complaining of harassment and employees who subsequently quit. (You can investigate here).
Now the Dübendorf city council has taken far-reaching action. The city is parting ways with the head of the social department immediately. This was done by mutual agreement, as announced by Mayor André Ingold (SVP) upon request. Furthermore, the city council decided “in view of the breadth of the case”, to temporarily withdraw the responsibility for social assistance from the person in charge of social welfare, Jacqueline Hofer (SVP), and hand it over to the city council.
Social Welfare Office created pseudo-transparency
The measures were taken despite the fact that an external investigation was launched in early September, the results of which are still pending. The deciding factor is that an internal investigation has uncovered new grievances. Mayor Ingold says, “I am shocked.”
“We want to finally clear the table and bring calm to the welfare office.”
In particular, these are the internal support guidelines applied by Dübendorf in the field of social assistance. These dictate how the community deals with welfare recipients. The guidelines were kept under lock and key for years. In February 2019, however, the social director surprised with the release of the documents, the guidelines became official. on the Dübendorf website. She was of the opinion that the rules on which social welfare should be based should be transparent, she said at the time. Now it turns out that the published version of the guidelines was missing several chapters compared to the original document. The transparency promoted by Hofer degenerated into pseudo-transparency.
“We consider this form of lack of transparency for the public to be very problematic,” says Ingold. The exact background of the obfuscation would now be the subject of an external investigation. Results should be available within six months. “We want to finally clear the table and bring calm to the welfare office,” says Ingold. While the investigation is ongoing, Hofer is no longer responsible for social assistance. The senior center remains for her for now. The city council is responsible for social assistance until further notice.
Controversial department head
According to well-informed sources, the head of the social affairs department, whose employment relationship has ended, was one of the main drivers of the complaints at the social welfare office. It is said that he was solely responsible for some questionable actions. For example, he is accused of secretly recording conversations with clients. He is also said to have prevented dissatisfied employees from visiting the ombudsman.
The department head also drew attention for the dissemination of controversial content online. In an August 2018 WhatsApp message, which has the TA, he sent the message of a German teacher who “wrote something from the heart” about Muslim immigrants. Among other things, he says: “Dear responsible politicians, dear foreigners! If we can no longer say ‘Grüss Gott’, there is only one alternative: you have the RIGHT to leave Switzerland if it doesn’t suit you!
In the focus of criticism: Social welfare in Dübendorf.
Photo: Urs Jaudas
The message is a hoax that has been circulating on the Internet for years. This says that in certain German-speaking areas the “Grüss Gott” greeting has been banned because it would annoy Muslim students.
At the end of August, the “Tages-Anzeiger” clashed with the Dübendorf town hall. This distanced itself from “discriminatory statements”. The matter will now be “cleared internally” with the department head.
