Durban - AS the country celebrated Heritage Day on Wednesday, Durban’s metro police used two of its vehicles to relocate city vagrants to a sugar cane plantation near oThongathi.
But the move was foiled when they were spotted by private security guards who called in the SAPS.
A police source said a metro police minibus and truck were driven into the sugar cane plantation early, not far from Nyaninga, near King Shaka International Airport.
“While they were offloading people from the vehicles a private security company approached the metro officers and called Tongaat SAPS for back-up. Metro police officers had to then reload the vagrants. Police and the security company then escorted them out of the area.”
It is not clear where the vagrants were then taken.
The source said one of the unmarked metro vehicles was from the hawker unit. The vagrants are believed to have been rounded up in the Durban CBD.
Metro police spokesman, Senior Superintendent Eugene Msomi, described the practice as “disgraceful”.
He said they had dealt with similar incidents internally before.
“This is not the policy of the metro police department. We will investigate the claims and take the necessary action.”
oThongathi ward councillor, Brian Jayanathan, confirmed the incident had occurred and that local police were quick to react.
“How often has it happened without us knowing? They were caught in a secluded area. In the mix-up vagrants that are mentally unstable are also being brought along.
“Police just load them up with out checking the vagrants’ health status. They are left clueless in an area they don’t know. This procedure goes against our constitution.”
”We have seen an increase in vagrancy in the area. Now we have found out where they come from.”
The DA’s spokeswoman on community and emergency services in eThekwini, Shontel Asbury, said the city needed sustainable ways of keeping vagrants off the streets.
Daily News