Too early to shut down the Covid shelters in Limpopo says DA

The Mopani district were housing about 500 homeless people who were left stranded during the Covid-19 lockdown period.

Five shelters will be closed including Jetty 3 in Tzaneen.

According to the department, the temporary shelters were established in conjunction with local and district municipalities and other relevant departments after the March lockdown pronouncement by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

This was to ensure that the homeless do not roam the streets during the lockdown period.

The department has been providing psycho-social support to the users of the shelters, meals and also reuniting them with their families.

Also read: Jetty 3 shelter in Tzaneen closes down

According to the MEC Nkakareng Rakgoale, to date the majority of homeless people were reunited with their families and only 55 are still housed at the temporary shelters, with 35 accommodated at the Musina showgrounds, 11 at Thabazimbi and nine at the Polokwane showgrounds.

Rakgoale said she appreciates all the dedication, hard work and assistance that came from donors, volunteers as well as government employees from various departments, in the smooth running of the shelters.

“The Covid-19 lockdown period left a lot of devastation in our lives, but South Africans joined hands in demonstrating unity and ubuntu.

Also read: TZANEEN: Only 16 left at Jetty 3 shelter

“As the department of social development we were able to provide meals, psychosocial support and other services to the homeless people since the shelters were established. This would not have been possible without officials who worked diligently to care for our people who were left stranded. My special thanks also go to all Good Samaritans who donated food parcels and other basic necessities to assist during the different levels of the lockdown period. Once more, I want to take this opportunity and appreciate the work done by our front liners who are Social Workers deployed across the province to serve our communities. The social workers are currently in the process of conducting exit interviews in terms of the provision of psychosocial support services and the individual files will be closed. ” said Rakgoale.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) provincial spokesperson on social development services, Suzen Phala, said that the DA acknowledges the department’s efforts during the lockdown to provide food and psycho-social support in the temporary shelters for the homeless as well as reuniting many of them with their families.

“But we are disappointed that it took a Covid-19 pandemic to get the department of social development to do their job,” Phala said.

Also read: Tzaneen: Jetty 3 homeless clean up nicely

She said that the DA also believe it is too early to shut these shelters down because Covid-19 is not over yet and signs from other countries point to the possibility of a second wave of the virus.

“The department should actually be working towards making these types of shelters permanent to service the homeless on an ongoing basis,” said Phala.