By Bhavna Sookha and Bongani Mthembu
Durban's street children have been rounded up and taken out of the city while Tourism Indaba 2005 is on.
Residents and business people on the beach-front and in the city centre have been asking where the children have disappeared to after they vanished from their usual haunts late last week.
eThekwini municipality's Visvin Reddy, in charge of the council's street children project, confirmed that they have been rounded up and taken to a place of safety in Ohlange, Inanda, north of Durban.
A concerned business owner in the beach-front area said that she was so concerned about the missing street children that she was considering filing a missing persons report.
Beach-front councillor Avrille Coen said the absence of the children was not unusual as the street children and illegal traders were always rounded up before "special occasions".
"I want to know where the street children have been taken to," she said.
"Every time we have an occasion in the city, out comes the glitter and the children disappear. But, of course, a few days later they manage to find their way back."
She added that street children were a problem all over the world, but that the problem was not being dealt with in the right way.
"The concern of the ratepayers is why this can't be done throughout the year and not only when we have delegates in town," she said.
"My feelings are that the children are being unfairly treated because once again this was just another special occasion and they had to be moved out of sight."
"This is no way to deal with the problem as the children always manage to find their way back to the streets after a few days."
Reddy said the children had been taken to a place of safety in Inanda.
He denied, however, that this was done because of Indaba.
"This is not an Indaba move. We have been taking street children to the place of safety for a long time now. The only difference this time around is that we have been able to secure more resources from other organisations such as the police and NGOs to take more children to the place of safety. The organisations have assisted us with transport and personnel," he said.
When asked whether he had requested support because of Indaba, Reddy agreed saying that Indaba was valued.
"The Indaba has huge spin-offs for the city. So we are just making sure that it is a Durban event with no street children harassing delegates. We have taken them to where they are supposed to be. Some of them are extremely difficult and we are busy working with them to make certain that they change their behaviour," he said.
Another concerned business owner said that it was unfair for the street children to be taken away before large conferences and that he had on numerous occasions seen them being put into police vans.
"But a few days later, they manage to find their way back. Why can't something be done for good?"