The Western Cape High Court has issued a final eviction order in the City of Cape Town’s application regarding the unlawful occupation of various road reserves and bridges near Culemborg in the Cape Town CBD.
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These areas are near the intersection of Nelson Mandela Boulevard and Hertzog Boulevard, as well as Old Marine Drive and the Christiaan Barnard Bridge.
The order includes a standing interdict prohibiting any further unlawful occupation of these areas and other city-owned public spaces identified in the order.
Those in need of this service can find dignified transitional shelter at City-run Safe Spaces. The order allows the Sheriff of the Court to evict any remaining unlawful occupants if necessary after March 14th.
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The final eviction order for the Culemborg area follows the City’s long-standing efforts to provide social assistance and care interventions to those illegally occupying public spaces in the area, which is close to City-run Safe Space facilities that provide dignified transitional shelter and social programmes to help people get off the streets for good.
Safe Spaces aims to reintegrate people into society and reunite them with their families. Personal development planning and employment opportunities are available, as well as referrals to mental health, medical, and substance abuse treatment.
In a separate decision issued yesterday, the High Court granted a final eviction order in the City’s application for the unlawful occupation of certain erven adjacent to Victoria Road and Kloof Road in Camps Bay. According to the order, the Sheriff will evict any remaining unlawful occupants after March 7.
Regarding the other recent eviction order granted for the Green Point Tennis Courts, the City is currently assisting with the final stages of relocating the occupants who accepted the offer of assistance.
Aside from dignified transitional shelter at Safe Spaces, emergency housing kits and relocation services have been provided to those who wish to relocate to space with family or friends or to private land with the permission of the landowner.
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The Sheriff will evict any remaining unlawful occupants in the coming days.
The City is also awaiting the High Court’s decision on a final eviction order for various homeless encampment sites in the CBD, such as Buitengracht Street, FW De Klerk Boulevard, Foregate Square, taxi rank and Foreshore, Helen Suzman Boulevard, Strand Street, Foreshore/N1, Virginia Avenue, and Mill Street Bridge.
‘The City has gone to great lengths to extend every offer of care to individuals unlawfully occupying public places in various parts of the city. Accepting social assistance to get off the streets is the best choice for dignity, health, and well-being.’
‘Where offers of help to get off the streets have been persistently refused, we are seeking the court’s help as a last resort. No person has the right to reserve a public space as exclusively theirs, while indefinitely refusing all offers of shelter and social assistance,’ said Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
The City will spend R230 million over three years to expand and operate its Safe Space transitional shelters beyond the current 700 beds across CBD and Bellville facilities.
The City currently operates two Safe Spaces at Culemborg in the east CBD, which offer 480 shelter beds across the facilities. The City is also set to open a new 300-bed Safe Space in Green Point next year, with this facility recently passing the planning appeals phase.
This year, the City provided a 63% bed increase to the CBD’s Haven Night Shelter, expanding it from 96 to 156 beds with an R500,000 cost contribution. During the winter, the City further enabled several NGOs to add 300 more temporary bed spaces to cope with additional shelter demand, including the deployment of 184 EPWP workers to assist NPOs.
The City’s social development budget to help people off the streets totals R94.75 million for 23/24, a 23% increase from 22/23, making it the only metro to dedicate a budget to this critical issue. R75 million in grant-in-aid funding will be available to NGOs, including those working to get people off the streets, over the next three years.
The City also runs the Matrix substance abuse treatment programme, which has an 80% success rate for clients and addresses a major reason why people end up on the streets.
In the 12 months ending June 2023, the City assisted nearly 3 500 people with shelter placement or referrals to a variety of social services. This includes 2 246 shelter placements, 112 family reunifications and reintegrations, 1,124 referrals to social services, and more than 880 short-term contractual job opportunities through the Expanded Public Works Programme.
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Eviction order granted for unlawful occupation of Green Point tennis courts
Picture: Nicola Jowell – Ward 54 / Facebook