A Capetonian has recently shared her views on how it’s inevitable to find someone begging in Cape Town – whether it’s at the mall, while parking your car, waiting at a robot or leaving a restaurant… “Begging in Cape Town has absolutely numbed my empathy” she says.
“I used to give a few people here and there but to be honest I don’t even carry my wallet anymore (cause contactless pay), let alone physical cash. This now makes these interactions extremely awkward.
“What makes it hard annoying is that the more you interact with people asking for money, the more they refuse to let you out of the conversation by trying to manipulating you into giving them literally anything or buying something for them,” she explains on Reddit.
She then goes on to say how by greeting people who are begging, you find yourself being lured into a conversation, spending around 30 seconds trying to justify why you can’t give anything, while they disregard boundaries. They will not “hesitate to even follow you around which is really uncomfortable… especially coupled with the crime around Cape Town,” she adds.
This has led her to the point of not interacting with strangers in the street at all, by not responding to greetings and not making eye contact.
She admits that although humans shouldn’t be treating each other like this, it’s become “the most straightforward way to deal with this.”
Of course, others joined in on the discussion as Afrikaansvatter said “I’m deeply divided on the subject… On the one hand, I believe that giving money or food directly to beggars feeds only a bad system. This does more harm than good in the long run… On the other hand I always drive away thinking ‘what if that was me’. I once saw a man with a sign that read ‘I never thought this would happen to me’ and, wow, that just struck and stuck.”
“I genuinely want to help them, but many of them are awful people… Some of them harass you, threaten you and sometimes even attack you, ruining it for those of them that are actually decent people just looking to survive.”
Meanwhile, daisy_ray added to this by saying that she believes in acknowledgment. “I don’t always have money on me (I rarely carry cash and between the all the car guards and all the other beggars around, chances are slim that I ever have some money on me. Maybe that’s why their begging strategies have become a little more aggressive, I.e. approaching people in the shops?). But I’ll ALWAYS say hi or give a friendly wave. Some of them are really just tragic victims of their circumstances- let’s be honest, most of us could be a single paycheck away from the same fate,” she said.
The Redditor who initiated this topic responded to this by saying that her biggest issue with acknowledgment is that it’s served as an invitation to further engagement. “I didn’t wake up ‘cold’ as I am now. At first I used to have proper conversions with each one… I’ve gradually settled to what I do now as I’ve figured it’s the most effective way,” she explains.
lovethebacon expressed – “Not sure which is worse, the 20th beggar of the day, or those guys that come with long stories. But yeah,… I wouldn’t want to be in their position, but at the same time I’ve also become numb to their pain.”
Is this a callous way of approaching the situation or has this become the norm in Cape Town, where it’s inevitable to roll up your window, or shake your head as soon as you see someone begging?
Also read:
Redditor asks if there’s a “tipping culture” in SA after assuming it’s “an American thing”
Picture: Supplied