The City of Cape Town has erected temporary shelters for the homeless in areas such as Strandfontein, Culemborg, Wingfield and Bellville during the national lockdown brought on by the Covid-19 virus yet a community in Bellville claim that the shelters are only for refugees and they are left out in the cold.
The old Paint City premises in Bellville is currently in operation, yet according to people living in Hope and Faith Camp, situated two roads away and behind the Bellville Shopping Centre claim that only refugees are benefitting from the city’s initiative.
Jerome van Wyk, a resident of the camp that he confirms has 47 shacks and is home to 108 people, said: “The city has done nothing for us during this time and even before that. Right now we have a real problem here because we have no running water, we have to go to the toilet in holes that we make in the ground and there are heaps of dirt all around which brings rats. It is very heartbreaking that the city built a nice place for refugees to live but we are out here in the cold and the dirt. The people at the tent have running water, toilets and even a play area for the children but here we have nothing. That place is not for us, we have nowhere else to go but the least we are asking for is bins for the dirt as well as toilets and running water.”
Mr Van Wyk added that the camp has been around for four years and during that time there have been frequent fires in the area, causing them to have to rebuild and start from scratch.
According to Mr Van Wyk and other residents such as Fakheer Adriaanse and Clinecia van Rooyen the people living in the camp are from Delft, Kraaifontein, Wesbank and there are even people from Tanzania.
Ms Van Rooyen said that the residents often clean up in the area but due to the camp being close to businesses it is a regular site for dumping.
Mr Van Wyk said: “Before the lockdown we always had to ‘scurrel’ (run around doing odd jobs to get food and money) but of course now with most of the shops closed we are really struggling more than before.”
Despite numerous email queries from the Northern News, the city failed to confirm if the Paint City site is only home to refugees or the exact amount of people currently sheltered there.
Cape Town mayor Dan Plato though did confirm that refugees are staying at the premises due to mistakenly being placed there from their previous shelter in the Methodist Church in Greenmarket Square within Cape Town’s CBD.
Mayor Plato said: “Unfortunately, for reasons that are still unknown to me, the removal of the refugees from the church at Green Market Square on Thursday carried out by SAPS, was premature and did not conform to our agreement in this regard. The Wingfield site was not yet ready for occupation and the church refugees were moved to the Paint City site by SAPS without the city’s agreement.
The mayor added that as a result of the mistake by the police, over 500 people are staying at the Paint City site, which is not within national lockdown regulations.
Mayor Plato said: “It is important to note, that while the City did not support the removal of the church refugees to the Paint City site as it was contrary to prior agreements reached with the National Government, the fact is that the removal has taken place and any resultant overcrowding or health risks that are triggered at that site will need to be dealt with by all three tiers of government on a co-operative basis going forward.”
While the finer details regarding the refugees at Paint City continue to be ironed out, the city’s executive director of safety and security Richard Bosman said that the site does have a future following the lockdown.
Mr Bosman said: “Paint City, Bellville will be a long term initiative and will be used by street people in future providing extra bed space for the city’s social development program.”