Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has come under fire over a “malicious” anti-homeless sticker which was spotted at the base of an elevator in the Gardens Centre and was posted on social media on Monday.
The sticker – which has now been declared as fake – carries the City’s emblem, promising a “social cleansing” while encouraging residents to not feed the homeless.
The City has on numerous occasions been criticised for its policies on homeless people which had been labelled as anti-poor. However, the City denied that it designed or sanctioned the sticker.
Community Services and Health Mayco member Patricia van der Ross said the City liaised with the shopping centre management who confirmed that one sticker had been placed on an escalator.
Van der Ross said the City requested that the offending sticker be removed.
“Unfortunately there is no clarity on who is behind this malicious act, so for the moment, the matter is considered closed, unless new information comes to light that could help identify the person or persons behind this malicious act,” she said.
The City appealed to anyone with information or who might spot similar stickers elsewhere to alert it as soon as possible.
Activist Carlos Mesquita said social media reactions to the cold-blooded murder of a homeless man in Observatory on Monday night, coupled with the sticker issue, showed a worrying trend of how people in the city felt about homeless people now that lockdown is officially over.
“The City may very well not be behind the sticker, they would be completely insane to have authorised it, but the fact of the matter is that JP Smith had last year in April in Hope Street said in my presence that when the lockdown was over, not a homeless person would be seen on the streets of Cape Town,” he said.
“Councillor Brandon Golding also said to me last year, ‘You better come up with a plan because when lockdown is over we will remove every last one’.
“And now that the lockdown is over, especially those who are anti-homeless are going to seek the promises made. It’s not going to be a good couple of months for the homeless. I think it’s about to become a nightmare,” Mesquita said.
The management of the Gardens Shopping Centre said it did not know about the sticker before its discovery. It said it does not support the placement or the wording on it.
“The sticker was removed, and the centre was scoured for any others that may have been placed and none were found,” it said.