WATCH: Mayor visits temporary shelter in Birchleigh North

Coen Scholtz Recreation Centre caters for homeless people from Kempton Park and parts of Edenvale

April 10, 2020

Puleng Sekabate 2 minutes read

Executive mayor of Ekurhuleni, clr Mzwandile Masina, visited the Coen Scholtz Community Hall which is one of the four temporary shelters for the homeless in Ekurhuleni. The visit was last Friday which was the second day for the homeless at the shelter.

Coen Scholtz Community Hall in Birchleigh North is one of the temporary homeless shelters in Ekurhuleni.

The hall is among the four identified to shelter the homesless during the lockdown.

Executive mayor of Ekurhuleni Clr Mzwandile Masina made a site visit at the shelter that caters for about 124 homeless people on Friday last week.

“I have met men and women who are very happy to be here and all of them have voluntarily decided to join the call by our president to be housed here,” said Masina.

“I am happy that as both local and provincial government we are working with NGOs, including the Muslim community, to ensure that people who come here are well taken care of and being provided with medical care. All of them wash on a daily basis and receive three meals a day.”

Masina also said many of the homeless raised issues.

“They are raising fundamental issues which I think as a country at large we must be concerned about, such as jobs. Many of them are not destitute because they are naughty but they are in the situation they are in because of the social economic environment,” said Masina.

“What is more critical to me is what we do with these people beyond the 21 days of lockdown. We must come up with a comprehensive solution that will ensure that we take good care of all these people. These are men and women of dignity who are just victims of their circumstances.

“As a country, we have to make a call to ensure that we take care of the plight of the poor whom we normally just pass on the streets.”

Masina said some of those addicted to drugs have accepted help and will be taken to rehab centres.

According to him, everybody who comes to the facilities are being tested, not just for the coronavirus, but also for other communicable diseases.

Rendani Seleka (27) is formerly from West Street and was happy to move into the shelter as he had started using drugs and said he regrets. On Friday, he had already started having withdrawal symptoms and the facilitators seeked medical attention to assist him.

Coen Scholtz Recreation Centre caters for homeless people from Kempton Park and parts of Edenvale. The other shelters are in Olifantsfontein, Benoni and Springs.

The men and women arrived at the local shelter last week Thursday after being transported by bus.

Jamiatul Ulama South Africa (JUSA), Council of Muslim Theologians, were contracted by the provincial department of social development to provide catering for the men and women at the shelter.

Of the 124 at the local shelter, there are only four women who are separated from the men. There get two snacks between the three meals and each meal has a drink.

Different organisations and companies also donated clothes, buckets, mattresses, blankets, dignitary pads and toiletries, among other things.

The homeless are only allowed to leave the hall twice a day for 30 minutes, from 10-10.30am and from 2-2.30pm. They must be in visible distance where facilitators and security guards can see them.