EMPD denies burning the homeless’ belongings

While several homeless people on the streets of Kempton Park claimed their meagre belongings are being burnt by the metro police, the department has denied it.

Metro police spokesperson Lerato Monyane said officers gave homeless people enough time to remove their personal belongings.

“After this, members would pick up all the leftover carton boxes, paper and rubbish to take to a dumping site. Sometimes they do remove old mattresses, bedding and other goods left behind,” she said.

But the homeless disagree. Nicky Blows (32) told Express on August 30, “My boyfriend and I have been homeless for a month now. They [EMPD] normally come on a Sunday morning when there is little traffic and generally quiet.

“Our first Sunday on the street, which was early in July, they told us they were here to burn our belongings. We couldn’t protest much since there were normally quite a lot of officers.”

At that time the couple was in an open veld on Pomona Road.

They also allegedly burnt a laptop she carried in her backpack. She said the officers instructed them to get their identity documents before they started burning.

Shane Labuschagne (45), living in the same veld, said his ID had been lost due to these actions.

On August 8, Sibongile Mkhuane (20) told Kempton Express that EMPD officers arrived at their place of refuge the week prior. One of the officers allegedly kicked her in the stomach when she attempted to grab her belongings from the fire. “They did not wear their badges,” she said.

Monyane said if officers did not wear badges, the vehicle’s registration number should be taken down.

“The time and date of these incidents are crucially important to identify which members were deployed on which shift in that area.”

In addition, another homeless woman, Karen Manser (31), who was pregnant at the time, was apparently subjected to the same treatment. According to her companion Pedro Bezuidenhout (40), Manser had baby clothes donated to her by multiple community members to help her prepare for the baby.

One of the community members called Express to inform us that the metro police had burnt Manser’s baby clothes on August 25, which they donated the week before.

Bezuidenhout confirmed this and said, “They came out of the blue around 7am and they took every little thing like blankets, clothes, even the baby’s clothes that were brand new.”

He pointed to the blacked-out ditch that showed signs of fire at the corner of Highveld and Pomona roads. Bezuidenhout also said the community no longer wanted to donate clothes and blankets, since it suspected the homeless were selling it.

Ward councillor Jaco Terblanche said the by-laws made provision to remove such people from the streets because there were no toilet facilities or suitable accommodation.

Terblanche said he was also aware of high levels of drug abuse.

“While the DA understands that the metro police are mandated to implement law enforcement, crime prevention and by-laws, we call on the City of Ekurhuleni to create safe houses for the city’s most vulnerable people.

“We need initiatives like these (safe houses) rolled out across the city, which will look after the homeless people in society. All residents are supposed to feel safe and protected by the metro police.”