Cape Town is battling a rat epidemic. First Pollsmoor Prison was overrun by the rodents, causing the death of two inmates from leptospirosis, an infectious disease carried in rat urine, prompting a mass evacuation of inmates to other prisons.
Now people working with the homeless say the rodents are running rampant through the city’s shelters.
Anti-drug campaigner Venetia Orgill who feeds the homeless in the Company’s Garden every Thursday evening has been asked by some of her regulars who sleep in shelters to look into the problem of rats in some of the facilities.
“Some told me rats ran over their faces at night. They were at social services to complain and have asked me to look into it.”
Veronica Abrahams said she slept at Youth Solutions Africa in Zonnebloem during its winter programme and found there were lots of rats.
“But they didn’t come inside, they stayed out in the yard.”
Another resident, who asked to be called John, said people often kept old food on the premises which attracted the rodents.
He said he used a concoction of raw mielie meal and concrete to get rid of unwanted rats: “You just put it down and they eat it and die.”
John Philmon, who runs Youth Solutions Africa, confirmed they had seen a few rats in its courtyard.
“It’s not such a big problem in winter but I’m sure in summer they will stick out their heads. We just need to make sure everything is clean and do regular pest control.”
Hassan Khan, chief executive at the Haven Night Shelter, said the organisation had experienced an increase in the rat population in its District Six shelter: “The bird poo was a problem and the building works drove rats from the old sewers.”
He said they had brought in pest control and the problem was no longer serious.
“We did not experience problems with unusual rat activity at other shelters.”
Orgill said she was also concerned about the rats in the Company’s Garden that were as “big as cats”.
She’d noticed them when they had finished their feeding programme for the evening: “If anyone drops crumbs or a piece of pasta, they (the rats) dash out to grab it.”
She said some of the homeless who slept in the garden told her they put out a half loaf of bread at night so the rats could eat that rather than bite them.
Ashley Martin wasn’t so lucky, however. He has a scar on his forehead which he said was caused by a rat nibbling at him while he slept in the gardens about three months ago.
“I woke up and I felt it on my head biting me.”
His friend, Yassen David Carey, who has slept in the garden for about two years, said the rats mingled with the squirrels.
“They’re all over, you can’t miss them.”
He said they bit, especially if there was food around.
Mayco member for health, Siyabulela Mamkeli, said chemical rodent control measures were employed in the CBD.
“With the assistance of the Cape Town Improvement District, bait boxes have been installed throughout the CBD area.
“These boxes are baited with rodenticide by city health, as needed.”
Taking steps
A city council project that issues baited rodent cages to households netted 660 rodents in just over a week this month.
So far 132 households have taken 180 cages to catch lrats.
Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) workers supervised by environmental health staff remove the rat cages from the houses on a daily basis to dispose of the rodents.
The empty cages are returned to the participating households until no more rats are caught .
Mayco member for health, Siyabulela Mamkeli said the rats were drowned.
“Drowning has been deemed the most humane and practical way of exterminating the rats.”
He said the current level of the rodent population could be described as an emergency situation if necessary action was not taken. Mamkeli added that households became involved only with their consent and after being educated on the measures to prevent breeding of rodents and the use of the traps.
Three wards had been involved in the project, which has funded employment through the EPWP.
“For this financial year, more than R750 000 was allocated to expand the rat cages project to all Khayelitsha wards,” Mamkeli said. The council is now waiting for more cages to be delivered.
Cape Argus