City homeless remain hopeless for better living conditions

Some of the people living at the No. 2 Struben Street in the Pretoria CBD, the only homeless shelter run by the Tshwane metro, are not really homeless.

This was according to Thabisile Vilakazi, the new MMC for Community and Social Development Services.

Vilakazi made the remarks during a visit to the shelter on Friday.

“After my visit, it is clear that the building is no longer effectively being used as a shelter but has been captured and to an extent hijacked by criminal elements,” she told Rekord.

It was her first visit to the shelter.

Vilakazi said she wanted to visit the shelter personally to find out how to go about with plans to decommission the shelter.

She said some individuals were even attempting to effectively extort others living at the site or were engaging in criminal activities.

Vilakazi said her first action as MMC regarding the shelter was to identify which inhabitants could be considered as being “vulnerable” and to assess their circumstances and provide the necessary assistance.

“The next step would be to ensure the site is totally decommissioned and that all criminal elements are removed.”

Vilakazi said the shelter was effectively hijacked during lockdown under the temporary ANC administrators.

In September, Gauteng social development MEC Dr Nomathembu Mokgethi said the shelter was deemed “non-habitable”.

Vilakazi said since then, conditions were allowed to deteriorate further.

“MEC Mokgethi visited the shelter while the city was under the control of the administration, indicating that it must be decommissioned urgently. Despite receiving this instruction, the administrators failed to take any action.”

Vilakazi said after engaging with some residents at the building, she had established that there was a severe problem with overcrowding.

“It is alarming that during the time the city was under the administrators’ control, the building was infiltrated by individuals who have subverted its true intention and purpose.”

Vilakazi said at times the administrators would even be intimidating and taking advantage of the vulnerable people staying at the shelter.

Some people living at the shelter were, however, skeptical of the new MMC’s visit and official plans to improve their situation.

A man at the shelter, who wished to remain anonymous, said they were told about the MMC’s visit in advance, but claimed that she left without even listening to them.

“A visit by someone new from government is nothing new for us,” he said.

He said officials were “always making promises when the media was around”.

“They always say crime, drugs and other factors are a problem here, but they do nothing to show us that they are trying to fight these issues with us.”

He said toilets and showers had been damaged and unused for years, while the shelter had no electricity or running water in some places.

“The shelter is becoming run down by the day, as it does not get much help from the municipality for basic upkeep.

“During these official visits, our personal information is always asked for to assist with ID documents, Sassa or applying to stay in old age homes, but nothing ever changes.”

He further said many homeless members depended on sponsors for the basic upkeep.

“We just want a better place to better our lives, because this shelter is not safe.”

Shelter residents’ chairperson Solly Hadebe was, however, more optimistic about the MMC’s visit.

“She sounded a little different from the others who have visited the shelter,” said Hadebe.

He said Vilakazi did seem willing to address problems at the shelter.

“However, no one here is getting their hopes up for any changes as announced by officials previously.”

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