ETHEKWINI Municipality on Friday revealed that Sakhithemba, a homeless shelter South of Durban, is 70% complete and should be in operation in December. On the opposite side of the fence, Denis Hurley Centre (DHC) brands the plan as “ill-conceived”.

DHC Director, Dr Raymond Perrier, shared his frustration. “We have mentioned before the ill-conceived plan of eThekwini Municipality to create a shelter for homeless people 37km outside central Durban, in a place with no services and little chance of work. The location and the scale of this project runs contrary to all the shelter models that have proven effective in other countries and, indeed, in other cities in South Africa. Nevertheless, eThekwini is determined to go ahead with it and – gallingly – claim that they consulted homeless people.

“We have not found a single homeless person who has been consulted – and we see 300 every day – so we thought we would assist the municipality by organising a consultation for them. The project was described to the group by four homeless men who had travelled down to see it with Stuart Talbot, our Empowerment Officer. Their overall feeling was that – no matter how nice the still unfinished building might turn out to be – it was ‘a dumping ground’.”

“Why would the municipality spend money constructing a new building in a place where we do not want to be, when they have dozens of empty buildings in the centre of Durban where we do want to be?” asked one homeless person.
City Mayor Cyril Xaba recently highlighted that the homeless project was in line with the municipality’s vision of “being the most caring and livable city”.

Also read: Homeless voice displeasure over decommissioning of shelter, relocation

“We wish to emphasise the fact that Sakhithemba will operate as a transitional shelter to provide for the homeless persons and those who are drug users who are awaiting or already participating in rehabilitation programmes,” added Xaba.

This facility will accommodate a maximum of 1000 people, whom the City said will access social services programmes and psychosocial support such as life skills, counselling, reunification and reintegration, skills development, and job readiness training.

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