Being homeless in Johannesburg is nothing new and, unfortunately, almost everyone can recognise the signs across the city.
Sleeping bags line the pavements and proliferate in parks.
In Linden, on the corner of Milner and 4th avenue, a group of men are huddled together every night soon after the antique shop closes. They all come from different backgrounds, but most are South Africans from other provinces who came to Johannesburg for its promise of opportunity.
During the day, most of them walk around the city, looking for job opportunities. These come in the form of casual work such as painting, gardening or building.
One such displaced person, Alf Mulaudzi said, “But we struggle to find even that with employers rather paying foreigners much less.”
He told the Northcliff/Melville Times that foreigners often work for very little, sometimes just R50 a day, whereas he cannot afford to work for so little.
The men outside the antique shop say they need to find jobs to send home some money. Asked why going back home was not an option, they said it would be shameful to return with nothing.
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Mulaudzi is from Limpopo where he finished his Grade 11. He came to Joburg in November 2015. He said that since he arrived he has slept on the streets. “But I have recently become lucky in that I have been offered a shelter next to a public toilet in return for opening and closing it,” he said.
Mulaudzi is a car guard at night, he says it sustains him and allows him to eat every day.
This is what the City of Johannesburg’s Social Development Department also told Mayor Herman Mashaba on a bus ride through the inner-city last year. It was found that in the inner-city streets alone, more than 3 500 people work and sleep on the streets.
Ward 99 councillor Nicole van Dyk, believes more homeless shelters are the answer. “Generally they are not addicts. They are just looking for a space,” she said.
Van Dyk is aware of this Linden corner and said she hopes that once the Windsor homeless shelter is opened, it will help them. “We are waiting with bated breath for the shelter to open. We need more spaces like it in the city,” she said.
Apart from the Windsor shelter, northern Johannesburg does not have enough shelters for all the displaced people. Van Dyk said that in order to take care of them, a shelter will have to be built in every neighbourhood.
“We need to take better care of the homeless,” she said.
But for now, homeless people hope to find a better job every day so that they no longer have to sleep on the city’s streets. Their biggest concern is Metro police removing their belongings.
They said they are thankful to the residents who occasionally come and give them food.
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