Cape Town - Tension at the Strandfontein Sports Field, where thousands of homeless people are being housed temporarily in an attempt to curb the spread of Covid-19, is increasing.
Religious bodies have stepped in, urging the City to take action to address overcrowding concerns, while residents of the area have voiced their concerns to the national government.
Late on Wednesday afternoon allegations surfaced that the City’s law enforcement officers were issuing fines to homeless people at the site.
A group of Interfaith religious organisations visited the site on Wednesday, and are calling for the City to urgently shut it down. They were barred from entering the site.
Organiser Daniel Swartz said: “We wanted to see first hand what the City is doing with the most vulnerable. They have basically thrown them here. We want to see action taken immediately.” Calls to close the cramped Strandfontein site are growing. There is little protection from inclement weather there, and several serious incidents of crime have occurred since the City erected the facility.
Mayco member for community and health services, Zahid Badroodien, said: “The SA Human Rights Commission has been on site several times, and we will continue to allow the organisation’s representative access.
“For the record, the shelter was set up in terms of the National Disaster regulations, on instruction from the national government, to mitigate the risk of street people contracting Covid-19; to ensure that, where cases do occur within this vulnerable group, they are treated timeously; and to provide a means of sustenance to street people whose economic lifeline has been cut by the national lockdown.”
@MarvinCharles17