Hundreds of homeless individuals in Cape Town’s CBD have begun relocating to shelters and Safe Spaces as the City of Cape Town prepares to enforce their removal, Cape {town} Etc reports.
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Monday marked the deadline for the homeless to dismantle their tents or risk having their structures demolished by the Sheriff of the Court as deadlines were extended by a further two weeks as Cape {town} Etc reported.
In June, the Western Cape High Court issued a final eviction order mandating the removal of homeless people from several areas, including Buitengracht, FW de Klerk Boulevard, Foregate Square, the taxi rank and Foreshore, Helen Suzman Boulevard, Strand Street, Foreshore/N1, Virginia Avenue, and the Mill Street Bridge by 30 July.
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Brighton van Wyk (38) originally from Elsies River, was still living on the streets in the CBD on Monday. He expressed his despair, saying he had no place to go, and his family had rejected him.
‘Those homeless people that they chased away were my family; I am now left alone,’ said Van Wyk, who has been homeless for eight years.
Van Wyk explained that he found the CBD safer than the townships or the Cape Flats. His girlfriend, also homeless, had recently left him, and he didn’t know where she had gone. He admitted that he was struggling with drug addiction and was hesitant to go to a shelter.
‘I will die from stomach cramps if I am taken to a shelter,’ he said in a report by News24.
He recounted a previous experience in a shelter where he ran away due to severe withdrawal symptoms.
‘I messed up my own life, and I am paying a big price now,’ he said.
On Monday, the City of Cape Town acknowledged that, due to the transient nature of those occupying the sites unlawfully, it was difficult to estimate the number of people who would be evicted.
The City emphasised that individuals vacating these sites would be asked to take all personal belongings. Any unclaimed items would be documented and stored at the City’s Ndabeni facility, where owners could retrieve them.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis expressed relief for those who had chosen to leave the streets, stating, ‘We feel glad for every instance where someone has made the right choice to leave the streets because we know tonight they will sleep in a much more dignified, healthy and safe environment, with warm beds, hot meals and ablution facilities at our Safe Space transitional shelters.’
He added that these shelters would provide access to medical care, social workers, substance abuse treatment, family reunification services, EPWP (Expanded Public Works Programme) work, and personal development programs designed to help individuals transition permanently off the streets. The City has made extensive efforts to offer care to those unlawfully occupying public spaces in the CBD, according to Hill-Lewis.
He also emphasised that no one has the right to refuse social support and claim public spaces as their own, stating, ‘Our public places must be open and available to all.’
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