Johannesburg - The people who have come to call the Central Methodist Church home don’t know where they will go.
They have until New Year’s Eve to pack up their belongings and leave the central Joburg shelter that has housed them since the 2008 xenophobic attacks.
Bishop Paul Verryn will be moving to the Soweto branch. He will no longer be serving at the Joburg church and the shelter will no longer exist.
The leadership of the board has ordered that the building be vacated after the electricity bill reached R2 million. Residents now want to know what the way forward is for them.
“They are saying ‘we are taking the poor back to the streets’, and all that will do is cause the crime rate to go higher. They’ll be saying foreigners are doing this,” said one of several residents who spoke to The Star on condition of anonymity. “We understand there are people who can pay, but we take this place as a shelter given to the poor for those who can’t afford (to pay). What will the church do, because they are the ones who opened their doors to the poor?”
The residents said the only information they received was from Verryn. No one from any government department had spoken to them. They have also complained that the matter was not handled properly.
“We need to be addressed. There is no information coming in from them, we are left with rumours and guessing. We heard they would be locking the gates and bringing security,” said another resident.
One of those accommodated in the church said he did not understand how the place had been open to them for so long and suddenly had to change.
He said that when people were coming in from different countries, it was the church that invited them to stay there.
“When they registered as a shelter, they were supposed to have a subsidy, but it was refused. The city purposefully dragged its feet, the bill can’t be a surprise to them,” he said.
He said the church had never been rich and it was the work of both the government and the church to work together to fix the situation.
“It is not just foreigners who live here. Forty percent are South Africans. People aren’t allocated RDP homes and when they seek refuge in the churches, there are excuses.”
The residents said the church served as more than just a shelter. The five-storey building also houses a sewing project, computer training, catering and creative games, and it has a school in Albert Street. The fourth floor is used to provide home-based care for the sick and disabled.
“The hospitals and police bring people here when they have nowhere else to go. What will happen then?” asked a concerned resident. The residents have been having meetings since June to discuss what they will do once evicted, with many having no plans.
“It doesn’t matter how long the notice is, people are poor and have nowhere to go.”
The residents said most of the 400-plus people who live in the building would still be in the church come New Year’s Eve.
“It pains, but there is nothing we can do,” said a resident.
Verryn said he had been in talks with the MEC for human settlements to find alternative accommodation. “We’ve begun preparing clothes for people in Soweto and Johannesburg,” he added.
Verryn said the residents were deciding whether they would stay in town and what they would do next.
“We’ve done all sorts of things in terms of skills development and education. If we got the space to do these things in town, it could make a considerable contribution to the people and we would still be able to help the poor,” he said.
The Star