Where do the homeless go now?
As a response to the national lockdown, the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality housed Middelburg’s homeless at the Eastdene Community Hall. Now that lockdown has been eased, the homeless are back on the streets.
On Wednesday, the Middelburg Observer paid a visit to a makeshift camp set up by a few of Middelburg’s homeless, situated near the Klein Olifants River, and found a half-naked man urinating near a tree.
The man identified himself as Lucky Mthimunye. Lucky said he started living near the river in Eastdene in 2017. During the day he collects cans, empty bottles and cardboard, which he sells to recycling companies.
According to him, the six other men who live with him only sleep at the site when they have to look for job opportunities in the morning. The area was filled with empty alcohol, water and soft drink bottles and cigarettes butts.
Temperatures dip as low as -5°C during the night at the makeshift campsite, the men only have a couple of blankets and some cardboard to keep them warm.
