Strandfontein residents have welcomed the City of Cape Town’s decision to close the Strandfontein Coronavirus shelter for the homeless.
The sports field, which housed about 1500 homeless men and women, is being shut down after it was declared a humanitarian disaster by the South African Human Rights Commission, and an 18-year old girl was raped.
On Thursday, the City suddenly announced that the notorious camp would be closed and dismantled by 20 May, and started releasing people from the site.
Mayco Member for Community Services and Health Zahid Badroodien said: “As of... 30 April 2020, no more people will be taken in at the Strandfontein temporary shelter site. Those on site who want further assistance will be moved to smaller shelters that are being prepared. By 20 May 2020, the site will be empty.”
Pictures by Tracey Adams/ANA and supplied
The announcement came after the City was hauled before the Cape Town High Court by Strandfontein residents who wanted the camp closed as it posed a “health hazard”.
The City then courted further controversy when videos surfaced on social media showing the homeless leaving the site in minibuses, on the back of trucks and in Law Enforcement vehicles.
The Strandfontein Ratepayers Association and the Strandfontein Social and Economic Development Forum has taken the City to court over the debacle, after police arrested a man in connection with the rape of an 18-year-old girl at the camp.
Homeless people complained that they were being kept like prisoners, that they were served ou kos, slept in cold tents on thin mattresses and that “women were selling themselves for entjies”.
CARTED OUT: Homeless transported on the back of trucks
Mario Oostendurp of the Strandfontein Ratepayers Association said their application for a High Court order to close the camp has now been put on hold until they can meet with City officials this week to get further clarity.
“I am happy about the closure but this was not the end result we wanted,” he says.
“We are worried about the safety and wellbeing of the homeless during lockdown, whether they will be housed back with their families, or whether they will be placed at shelters.”
HRC commissioner Reverend Chris Nissen said he was concerned that the homeless were back on the streets where they are more vulnerable to the deadly virus: “My concern after speaking to some of them who had been dropped in locations like Mowbray and Muizenberg, is that they were brought in with luxury buses, according to them, but were taken back to drop off points with minibuses and trucks.
“Despite the criticism, the homeless who are vulnerable, need to be looked after.
“Were they screened for TB and other illnesses when they left? Were their families contacted before they left?”
CONCERNED: Chris Nissen
But Badroodien says the homeless were moved in a dignified manner: “The City made available two minibus vehicles and a number of cars to move persons off the site, back to their areas of origin.
“Trailers and trucks were made available to transport their belongings; however, a number chose to jump onto the trucks as a quicker means of leaving the facility.”
Mayor Dan Plato said a small number of individuals failed the initial screening process when they entered the site three weeks ago, and were sent for Covid-19 testing.
They were accommodated in an isolation tent and “all tests came back negative”.
IT’S OVER: City of Cape Town will shut down Strandfontein homeless shelter by 20 May
Meanwhile, Plato says two staff members who assisted on a temporary basis at the Joint Operations Centre (JOC) at the site tested positive for the Coronavirus on 26 and 27 April.
“The two staff members never had any contact with any of the homeless people at the facility, as the JOC is separately located and fenced off, and not open to any residents or service providers on site.”
He said the JOC was decontaminated, and officials who had contact with the two members were isolated and tested, “and these results came back negative”.