Calls for better budgeting on homelessness as Kruger Park and Melgisedek set to house students

The Tshwane metro will have to create an adequate 2021/2022 budget to deal with homeless issues.

This was according to Professor Stephen de Beer from the University of Pretoria.

De Beer shared sentiments over the Tshwane metro redeveloping two buildings for student accommodation while it still faces challenges in regards to homeless shelters.

This comes at the back of the Kruger Park and Melgiesedek building having been earmarked for student accommodation.

De Beer said his concern was that the Tshwane council had asked for proposals for Melgisedek and Kruger Park for redevelopment already in the tenure of ousted mayor Stevens Mokgalapa.

“As far as I know the city didn’t award any proposal to be implemented.”

He said Kruger Park alone could accommodate more than 1 000 people, while Melgisedek was a combination of vulnerable families, elderly people, vulnerable substance users and a crime element making money off the poor.

“The city, with NGOs and universities, should transform this place through a combination of redeveloping Melgisedek and Kruger Park for student and low-cost housing.

“In 2020, the metro committed itself to 1 200 new bed spaces for housing the homeless through a 10-point plan. That should be rolled out.”

De Beer said the metro had to come up with an adequate budget for implementation in 2021/2022 to address homelessness.

At the time of going to print, Tshwane mayor Randall Williams was yet to announce his budget.

Currently the Kruger Park building and Melgisedek “informally” house homeless members of Pretoria as the metro only have one operational shelter in Tshwane.

This comes as the metro recently revealed that the R5-million earmarked for upgrades at Struben shelter – the only metro-run shelter in Tshwane – had been unallocated and reprioritised to the fight against Covid-19.

Community and social development MMC Thabisile Vilakazi said the issues at the shelter could not be solved by the metro alone.

Vilakazi said Struben Shelter had been declared uninhabitable by the Tshwane fire department and Social Development and Municipal Health.

However, “there are still people living there”

READ MORE: City’s redevelopment on student accommodations still on

She said the metro was hard at work with homeless stakeholders to find time and suitable accommodation for the homeless.

Plans to redevelop the Kruger Park building in the Pretoria CBD, which has stood vacant for more than a decade, after a fire claimed the lives of residents, were still in the works.

Tshwane metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the building was awaiting approval by the council for the property to be released to the market on an open tender.

Mashigo said the metro had not abandon plans to fix student accommodation problems in the city.

“The tender will hopefully be open by no later than 30 July.”

Mashigo said the building, which had fallen prey to criminals who stripped it of steel doors, window frames, bathroom accessories and cables, was now earmarked for a mixed-use residential development.

“This follows a detailed and robust assessment of the highest and best use of the property.

He said having concluded the public consultation period, the metro was now following internal approvals in keeping with the municipal asset transfer regulations to ensure the release of the property to the market through an open competitive bidding tender.

This comes as, in 2019, the Tshwane metro was conducting a city-wide property clean-up which would see student accommodation woes in the Pretoria CBD coming to an end.

At the time, Tshwane mayor Stevens Mokgalapa told Rekord that the metro was off-loading properties to generate income for the metro and to alleviate the student accommodation backlog.

He said the metro had sold property that had fallen prey to illegal occupants in Eldoraigne, Sunnyside and Lady Selbourne, generating R11.6-million.

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