Abandoned houses encourage crime and poverty

Neglected homes in the South are occupied by people who pose a threat to their communities.

The houses are not used for the purpose of shelter, they are being used as getaways to support criminal activities, which leads to a high rate of poverty.

The houses do not have electricity and they are all in bad conditions. The windows are smashed and do not have gates that can be locked for safety at night, anyone can enter and exit the houses as they please. Only the notorious people have access to these abandoned houses and they become too comfortable to an extent where babies are born and HIV/AIDS thrives.

Women who have intimate relationships with men who squat in such conditions soon become victims of crime and syndicates of the crimes committed by their partners. Some women become prostitutes to support themselves and children after their boyfriends are arrested for a crime.

Children raised in an environment that does not have order and mentorship, grow up with no hope in life and resort to crime. Most of them do not go to school or a crèche, yet their parents are always drunk. Children as young as five years old are neglected by being left unsupervised half the day and mostly at night on weekends, when alcohol takes control of their parents’ lives.

Neighbourhoods surrounded by neglected houses feel that the police are not doing enough to arrest the perpetrators, or at least they should be evacuating them.

Mthunzi Tsetse