- In Cape Town, homeless residents under threat of eviction from various CBD sites express reluctance towards relocating to City-run Safe Spaces.
- Despite offers of social assistance, many, including long-term rough sleepers like Steven Adams and Wilhemenia Snico, prefer alternative solutions due to concerns over shelter conditions and personal freedoms.
- With a court-ordered eviction looming, the city faces ongoing challenges in balancing public space management with compassionate support for its vulnerable population.
It is a cold winter morning in Cape Town. Rain droplets glisten like diamonds on the tree leaves.
Cars are speeding past on the wet tar road under the bridge at Helen Suzman Boulevard in the City Bowl.
This site is home to dozens of people. For the past few months, a group of people have been occupying the site in makeshift shelters.
‘Prison’
One of them is Steven Adams. He has been a rough sleeper since 1983.
Adams says he doesn’t know where he will go next.
He has yet to accept alternative accommodation at a shelter or Safe Space.
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Because to him it will be like “living in a prison”.
“I don’t want to go to a shelter or a safe space where I end up feeling like a prisoner and can’t move around freely.”
Wilhemenia Snico has been living on the street for 23 years. She lives under the bridge with her husband, Mogamat Swinton.
She explains that she has been on the City’s housing database since 2009.
“Every time I go to the council office, I am told that I have to wait. I have my paperwork. The last time I was told they cannot help me. How is this possible? I just want a house for me and my children. My twin girls live with family members in Bonteheuwel because they cannot live here with us.”
Snico is not keen on the idea of moving into a Safe Space.
“They want us to go and live in containers, it’s cold. Some of us are on medication.”
Nachelle Damon says while she is willing to move to a safe space, she wants to know what will happen afterwards since it is only a temporary arrangement.
Eviction looms
The group have until Monday 30 July to vacate the site after which they will be evicted by the sheriff of the court.
The Western Cape High Court recently granted a final eviction order for various unlawful occupation sites in the Cape Town CBD with provision of alternative accommodation at one of the City of Cape Town’s Safe Spaces.
The order relates to various unlawful occupation hotspots along Buitengracht Street, FW de Klerk Boulevard, Foregate Square, the taxi rank and Foreshore, Helen Suzman Boulevard, Strand Street, Foreshore/N1, Virginia Avenue and Mill Street Bridge in the city.
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The order includes a standing interdict against any further unlawful occupation of these areas and further City-owned public spaces by respondents identified in the application.
The ruling comes after a lengthy court process since the initial granting of an order for eviction notices to be served in February last year. The hearing of the matter was then delayed until October 2023 by an eleventh-hour notice to oppose filed by a Johannesburg-based organisation. Judgment was eventually handed down late last month.
Offers of assistance
According to the City, its social development officials have made numerous offers of social assistance to those unlawfully occupying public spaces in the city, including offers of dignified transitional shelter at NGO-run night shelters and City-run Safe Spaces.
Safe Spaces aim to reintegrate people into society or reunite them with family.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has welcomed the order and says it will enable the restoration of public places in Cape Town’s CBD.
“Accepting social assistance to get off the streets is the best choice for dignity, health, and well-being, and the City has gone to great lengths to extend every offer of care to individuals unlawfully occupying public places in various parts of the metro.”
Hill-Lewis says where offers of help to get off the streets have been persistently refused, the City continues to seek the court’s help as a last resort.
“No person has the right to reserve a public space as exclusively theirs, while indefinitely refusing all offers of shelter and social assistance.”
Over the next three years the City is spending over R220 million to expand and operate its Safe Space transitional shelters beyond the current 770 beds across the CBD, Bellville, and Durbanville facilities.
Concessions
Ndifuna Ukwazi Law Centre, representing a few of the people living on the street, says some of the clients engaged with the City about their concerns regarding shelters and this resulted in important concessions.
Dr Jonty Cogger, attorney at Ndifuna Ukwazi, says: “The engagement process with the City of Cape Town to amend shelter rules has been a step forward in recognising the rights and dignity of unhoused individuals. The concessions made by the City, including allowing partners to stay together, removing daytime lock-out policies, and extending the duration of stay beyond six months for those without alternative accommodation, are positive developments.”
Cogger says dignified shelters play a vital role in resolving homelessness. “We must remain vigilant and ensure that these changes are implemented effectively. When shelters provide humane and supportive environments, they not only offer immediate relief but also encourage people to access the services they need. Poor conditions at shelters deter individuals from seeking help, perpetuating the cycle of homelessness.
“We call upon the City to continue its commitment to providing comprehensive support, including job opportunities, health services, and social support for those in need,” he concludes.
