Politicians take election fight to the streets of Durban

INKATHA Freedom Party (IFP)’s Thokozile Joyce ‘TJ’ Gumede says homelessness in the city is caused by the destruction of the family structure in our communities. Gumede, who was speaking at a dialogue with local politicians from the ANC, DA and EFF, at the Denis Hurley Centre on Thursday, also questioned the timing of the dialogue. “What we are going to be talking about today, will not necessarily delve deeper into coming up with solutions, but would be about us politicians selling ourselves,” she said.

The dialogue was aimed at providing political representatives an opportunity to speak to the homeless on their plans to tackle the issue of homelessness that has plagued the city for the past five years. The centre’s Raymond Perrier, who also serves as chairperson of the eThekwini Task Team on homelessness said: “In the run up to the May 8th elections we think it is important that political parties have the opportunity to speak to our homeless voters, and also to listen to what they have to say.”

Gumede said a holistic approach was needed to deal with homelessness, saying the term was broad and included those who live in shacks. “We need a re-look into shelters, we want to establish family centres which will act as one-stop centres, which will help restructure the community fibre which is currently broken,” she said.

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Meanwhile, in his opening statement Vusi Dube of the ANC said as the governing party, they were not there to sell themselves but they were there to listen and act on the people’s demand. “When you look at the statistics, a lot has been done by our government, which means after the elections as the ANC we will not start from the ground, but continuing to rebuild our country. What is left is for us to strengthen the sectors that have been built already and as we are heading to the polls it is important that your voice is heard.”

However, members of the homeless community who were in attendance, said the politicians were out of touch with the realities they face daily. For 28-year-old, Thandeka Makhanya, who is part of a group of homeless people living near the harbour after the police ordered them to leave their shelters at railway lines, life in the streets is hard. Makhanya, who claims to have two degrees said: “I have been searching for a job but when you don’t have experience and are homeless it is very hard to get one. Even though I appreciate the fact that they came here to talk to us, I feel like I didn’t get any solutions from them. I do plan on voting, and I will be voting for the party that made it possible for me to have access to education.”

Nicole Graham of the DA, a member of eThekwini municipality’s executive committee, unpacked the party’s plan to fight corruption and better educate and equip those living on the streets.”What the city needs is to invest in shelters of a quality standard and affordable to people who need assistance. The City needs to invest in drug support services, for people who want to come out of drug addiction and there needs to be proper integration services,” she said

EFF’s Vusi Khoza also agreed there was a need to root out corruption within the city and to work together with the homeless to build shelters and centres.

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