There is a ray of light at the end of the tunnel for irate residents regarding the issue with street people in the tented camp in Baxter Street opposite the Durbanville Primary School.
While roleplayers such as the City of Cape Town, MES and other organisations such as Friends of Durbanville are trying their best to find solutions for the problem, some residents are still undermining their attempts by handing out their unwanted goods to street people.
On Sunday a woman driving a small white bakkie with a canopy was spotted when dropping off old clothes, bedding and food in Church Street. This has once again been condemned by residents on social media.
Emotions boiled over at a meeting of Friends of Durbanville last Monday evening to shed light on the problem with street people.
Legal process
The meeting was unexpectedly attended by a full hall of more than 250 residents and had to be moved to the church. Two speakers were rudely interrupted by angry residents, and the City of Cape Town councillors were also blamed for “no action” being taken.
Theresa Uys, councillor for Ward 112 and the City’s Mayco member for corporate services, confirmed with TygerBurger a legal process is underway to evict the street people from Baxter Street.
“They will be removed to a safe space, but it will not be the old Morningstar dumpsite as it is not suitable. The residents of Morningstar are also not in favour of the plan,” she said.
They are, in partnership with MES, creating extra bed space at a shelter in Bellville as a temporary solution to accommodate the street people, she said.
The long term plan is to consider the construction of a dignified safe space.
JOC initiated
The City, MES and other roleplayers such as Durbanville Business, Afriforum (of which a Durbanville branch was also founded recently) and all relevant street people organisations also joined forces to initiate a Joint Operations Committee (JOC) last week and would have had their first meeting this past Monday.
“The purpose is to have a united and informed approach and get all rolepayers to work together,” Uys said.
Ruan Beneke, councillor for Ward 105, will steer the committee as he was successfully involved with the initiation of JOC Bellville, which paved the way for the initiation of a City Improvement District (CID) in Bellville.
“Unless the community unites and understands the importance of supporting organisations like MES, we cannot address the situation with street people,” she says.
Uys says a local liquor store told her street people once came in to hand in about a thousand empty beer bottles for a refund. “People are dumping their unwanted goods,” she says.
All our attempts to influence these street people, are undermined by ill thoughts and direct handouts. People may care, but care responsibly, she urges.
Uys said she witnessed on Sunday how a 73-year-old member of the Anglican Church in Baxter Street had to clean up the area before the church service started.
Louie Storm, chair of Friends of Durbanville, said he was surprised with the number of people at the meeting. “This was just an information session and no time was allocated to questions. However, there will be a follow-up meeting soon, where questions will be answered. Questions will need to be emailed before the meeting.
Contact Storm on chair@friendsofdurbanville.org.za for the link to the feecback on the information session.
