Lockdown regulations are being poorly enforced in Goodwood, and homeless people are still roaming the area, says a civic leader.
Goodwood Residents’ and Ratepayers Association (GRAA) chairman Faizel Petersen said more homeless people were moving into Goodwood. “It’s very visible along Vasco Boulevard, with many tents and makeshift shelters. We also have many parolees that have been released from prison also milling around the area. We’ve had petty crimes and opportunistic robberies and begging has increased and homeless have become very aggressive with residents.”
“We are all complying with the lockdown guidelines set out by national government and are concerned about the spreading of the Covid-19, and yet there are those who are blatantly ignoring the lockdown and posing a risk to others.”
The GRRA had reported residents’ complaints about transgressions to the authorities but had had no response, he said.
Resident Jacques Kleinhans complained that police vans were driving past people walking or gathering in the streets. He sent pictures to mayor Dan Plato’s office and the Goodwood police of a police van parked under a tree close to a tent and homeless people. Other pictures showed people washing cars at Goodwood mall and someone begging in Milton Road.Â
On Thursday April 23, Christene Carswell posted a video on social media of children playing in Rohm Road Park, next to Goodwood Park Primary School. For the past two weeks, she said, the park had been full of homeless people, families and children. The park was a mess, she said, and at night she had heard people there drinking, swearing and fighting.
Caron van Wyngaardt said the neighbourhood watch should return. “We’ve had people in our yard in the middle of the night, people on the roof then just walking like it’s nothing, taking advantage of the situation.”
Goodwood police referred questions to the provincial media office. Its spokesman, Colonel Andre Traut, said allegations about a lack of policing in Goodwood were devoid of truth. Goodwood police were aware of the homelessness issue, but it was a complex one that needed more than policing to solve, he said.
City Law Enforcement spokesman Wayne Dyason said they received 200 to 300 calls a day, double that at weekends, about people breaking lockdown. Homeless people had been removed from Goodwood and surrounds, he said, but the City could not keep them at shelters if they did not want to stay there.
Mayco member for community services and health Zahid Badroodien said there were 7 000 people living on Cape Town’s streets, of which 2400 were in shelters, according to 2018 statistics. Currently there are 1300 homeless people sheltering at the Strandfontein camp and 230 and 170, respectively, at the Culemborg and Paint City facilities.
On Friday April 24 mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said nearly 60% of the 84 people arrested across Cape Town by the City’s law enforcement agencies last week were for lockdown contraventions.Â
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