After one man died and an 18-year-old girl was allegedly raped at the City of Cape Town’s controversial lockdown facility in Strandfontein, a pastor has offered to accommodate all 1496 homeless people.
Mayco Member for Community Services and Health Zahid Badroodien on Monday confirmed the City was in talks with Pastor Jacobus Nomdoe and Pastor Bentley Roman from the Enon Baptist Tabernacle in Eersterivier/Blue Downs, and was thrilled at the prospect of relocating the homeless.
“The City has already been in contact with Pastor Nomdoe. He will advise when the facility is ready to take on people, so that we can assist with the transfers,” he said.
“These are built facilities with beds and other amenities which we as the City simply don’t have as our halls, civic centres, community centres are all earmarked for screening, testing and isolating in our communities.”
UPROAR: Strandfontein Sports Ground housing the homeless
Even though the camp at the Strandfontein Sports Ground along Spine Road has been slammed as a concentration camp and human rights disaster since it opened last week, the City won’t shut it down.
Instead Badroodien says it will now be used as a sort of halfway house to keep the homeless off the street until the City can find suitable accommodation for them.
“The long-term plan is that all these people will be connected to beds outside the shelter after Covid-19, the beds don’t yet exist but we are working on it.
“Already we have reintegrated individuals with their families and communities of origin, which is ultimately the first prize.
“The pastor’s offer is therefore very timeous and it is our hope that his church would be able to amplify existing work being done in the street people sector.”
Pastor Nomdoe says the City has reached out to him and the homeless would be housed at the church’s Hope Revolution rehabilitation facilities but they are still working out logistics.
“Our motto is simply, ‘Everybody is a Somebody and Nobody is a Nobody’.
“At this stage, we can provide accommodation for at least 70 to 80 people and we are working on expanding our scope.”
HELP: Pastor Jacobus Nomdoe
The leader of the opposition, the ANC’s Cameron Dugmore, welcomed the intervention and posted on social media on Sunday: “They have offered to immediately house and care for 162 homeless people in three indoor facilities that they have. This is for a period until 30 April.
“They have also indicated that their network - The Enon Tabernacle International fellowship - are willing to host the majority of 1700 homeless at venues across the City.
“They just need support with food, protective gear and some logistics. I visited the Enon Tabernacle facility. It is warm, has a kitchen and toilet facilities on-site.”
The Strandfontein Ratepayers Association was not available for comment on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Strandfontein Community Policing says they are still waiting to hear under what circumstances the 18-year-old girl was allegedly raped at the camp and why the matter was only reported two days later.
Police have confirmed that a 36-year-old man was arrested and will appear at the Mitchells Plain Magistrates’ Court today.
Initial allegations were that the teen had been gang-raped but cops confirm that only one suspect has been caught.
The City has said the camp would be under 24-hour surveillance with a number of Law Enforcement officers deployed.
LOCKED: The camp has been nothing short of controversial
Police spokesperson Captain FC Van Wyk confirms that the matter was reported on Friday, while the alleged incident took place on Wednesday.
“Our investigation into the circumstances surrounding the rape of an 18-year-old girl at the Strandfontein shelter led to the arrest of a 36-year-old suspect.
“According to the victim, the incident occurred on Wednesday evening, but it was only reported on Friday night.”
Mayor Dan Plato appealed to people not to spread misinformation: “At this point, we can provide no details as the matter is under investigation.”
CPF chairperson, Sandy Schuter-Flowers, has called for more security measures at the site following the incident: “We are hoping that extra precautionary measures will be taken at the camp to prevent this from happening again.”
The incident comes just days after community leaders likened the site to Auschwitz, the German concentration camp where thousands of Jews were killed during World War II.
There are also concerns about violence from drug addicts.
Issues such as a lack of mattresses and toilet facilities for the disabled were raised by the SA Human Rights Commissioner, Reverend Chris Nissen, last week.
On Sunday, Mayco Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith confirmed that 2000 mattresses had been delivered to the site.