The influx of street people in Claremont these past two years has been linked to an increase in crime in the area, with Claremont Police Station urging residents to adopt responsible giving.
On 18 February, Police Minister Bheki Cele released the crime statistics for the third quarter of the 2021-2022 financial year.
According to Lt Col Marnus Fourie, Claremont Vispol commander, at the end of the third quarter, Claremont Police Station had made 260% more drug arrests, 50% more arrests for possession of burglary and housebreaking equipment and 113% more arrests for possession of dangerous weapons.
“Theft out of motor vehicle cases have shown an increase and even if we are well below last year’s figure, it is rising rapidly. Again, the arrests for theft out of and from motor vehicles, as with drugs, dangerous weapons and burglary equipment, are exclusively vagrants,” says Fourie.
He adds that two murders were committed in Claremont last year, both committed by street people on other homeless people. “This is unheard of in Claremont. Drug and alcohol abuse were the contributing factors,” he says.
Fourie states that before lockdown started in March 2020, there were 35 documented street people residing in Claremont, mostly at The Haven Night Shelter. However, he says this number now stands at over 300. He says a large majority of those living on the streets are known drug users who resort to petty crime to feed their drug habit.
“We have been working very hard in keeping the streets of Claremont safe. Our neighbourhood watches and security companies have done wonderful work in keeping the crime down and assisting us as partners do. However, we are not resourced appropriately to deal with the influx of vagrants in our area. Our resources are carefully calculated and allocated according to our existing needs,” he says.
In describing the modus operandi used by opportunistic criminals, Fourie says they wander around the neighbourhood, asking for food and water.
“If they arrive at an unoccupied house, they will enter and steal bicycles, copper and burgle houses for laptops, cellphones and jewellery. If the house is occupied and the resident is present, the (street person) will demand food or even threaten violence if he or she does not get food or cash. Inevitably, whatever is given to them ends up in the pocket of the drug dealer,” says Fourie.
He says Claremont residents’ reputation for their willingness to hand out food and blankets is unintentionally encouraging the influx.
“The homeless quickly become dependent on these handouts. We strongly urge all residents, organisations, and individuals to refrain from giving food and shelter irresponsibly. We encourage everyone to support responsible giving by enabling NGOs to provide rehabilitative services,” says Fourie.
U-Turn is a registered Christian non-governmental organisation (NGO) focused on the rehabilitation of street people. To encourage street people to participate in a work-and-reward system and empower them, U-Turn makes use of a voucher system.
Rowen Ravera-Bauer, strategic partnership developer at U-turn, says while residents may think they are being kind by giving food and money, they are keeping people dependent and committing them to life on the street.
As an example, she shares the true story of Max.
“Max was homeless, an addict, and worked as a car guard to support his addiction. He was given a U-turn voucher, and after accessing our programme went on to complete his LLB through Unisa and today is completing his articles at a law firm in Cape Town.”
Ravera-Bauer says if Max had never been put in touch with U-turn, there is a real possibility that he would either still be on the streets or dead.
“If you have a support service like U-turn in your area, make use of it. Put people in need with the support service so that they can access food, but more importantly so that they have a chance of a better life.”
She says the best way to do this is to consistently offer a U-turn voucher.
“Even if they refuse it because they’d prefer money, smile kindly and explain that you want to help but cannot support them with money. They will not go hungry at U-turn, and they can access a pathway out of the situation,” says Ravera-Bauer.
She also encourages local shop owners to stock U-turn vouchers.
“As a business, you have a responsibility to educate your customers so that they’re also giving responsibly and supporting the extended community.”
- For more information, visit https://homeless.org.za/
