What happens to Cape Town’s homeless as lockdown is eased?
“The group of homeless individuals steadfastly refused accommodation at smaller shelters and opted to return to the CBD to be closer to the expanded Culemborg Safe Space,” said councillor Zahid Badroodien, Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, in a statement.
“No provision has been made for them at this facility, as it is currently a construction site, which we hope to open in the next few days.
“Until such time, our Street People Unit will engage with those camping outside this site to offer assistance to the smaller shelters that are ready to welcome them at the Haven Night Shelter, Oasis Reach for Your Dream, Ubuntu Circle of Courage, TASP and the Cape Flats YMCA.”
Chairperson of the group, Anda Mazantsana, told News24 that they had not wanted to leave the Strandfontein site because they did want to “endanger” the lives of people in Cape Town, after they believed they had been in contact with a positive case of Covid-19.
They wanted to go into quarantine instead. They were told that there was only space for 33 people to go into quarantine.
He said the buses they were driven around in were also overcrowded.
Mazantsana also wants the City of Cape Town to acknowledge the situation, and that they had not listened to the homeless.
“Because this is crime itself,” he said, waving at the tents on the pavement.
IOL and Mail & Guardian reported that it was unclear where the person who reportedly tested positive had contracted the virus, and that they had been showing no symptoms.
