Humphreys worried about small businesses

Ward 20 Clr Jill Humphreys credits the Bedfordview community for the immense support with the feeding schemes, but with the good comes the bad as livelihoods are threatened due to local businesses being shutdown.

Humphreys expressed gratitude to the community with the feeding scheme through the Bedfordview Safety Forum (BSF), St John Ambulance and Bedfordview Community Policing Forum.

“The community has been unbelievably generous; we have recently received a donation of R60 000.”

Although, Humphreys said as the word is out on the feeding scheme, problems have arisen.”

“We have had people streaming in from areas such as Malvern and Primrose, who are not practising social distancing while queuing outside the Bedfordview Methodist Church,” said Humphreys.

“I have had meetings with SAPS and EMPD to control this.”

Humphreys sees this as unfair to residents of Bedfordview who are trying to practise safety measures in the lockdown and cannot when the suburb is flooded with people.

“Through St Johns, we have decided to meet with community members in these areas to take food parcels to them directly, which we have been doing,” said Humphreys.

She, however, said the problem persists, as starving people are still showing up and cannot be turned away.

Concerning level 4 of the lockdown, she said jogging and cycling from 6am to 9am may be an issue as the short time frame is causing a build-up.

“The time frame should be spread out more or shouldn’t be limited at all,” said Humphreys.

The lockdown, although affecting many, will not affect Humphreys’ duties as a councillor.

“Despite the lockdown, emergencies happen, such as sewerage, flooding and blackouts. I will still respond to emergencies even though we do have limited staff to do these jobs,” said Humphreys.

She said metro departments are still functioning and do have dedicated officials who are on standby.

A main concern for Humphreys is the collapse of many businesses, including the beauty industry.

She said BSF is in full support of businesses and is currently looking at what options are available and how they can help businesses sustain themselves.

“It is community helping the community. We have created multiple platforms to assist with this as BSF, such as available economic platforms and also to get clarity on the regulations,” said Humphreys.

Humphreys is thankful the community members are complying with regulations.