Locals come together to clean up Boeing Road (N3 underpass)
RAG chairperson has urged residents to donate directly to homeless shelters and soup kitchens and refrain from giving homeless people money.
Local NPOs Better Bedfordview and Residents Action Group (RAG) joined forces to undertake a massive cleanup of the Boeing Road N3 underpass.
Enormous piles of rubbish were removed from under the bridge by the Better Bedfordview team, while RAG’s reaction team was stationed nearby, keeping a watchful eye to ensure the workers’ safety.
According to RAG and the Bedfordview Community Policing Forum (BCPF), the huge buildup of rubbish was largely created by homeless people living under the bridge.
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RAG chairperson Anjela da Silva appealed to residents to look carefully at the shocking photos of the rubbish and “imagine living in this”.
“Homeless people live in these filthy ‘caverns’ under the highway, and they keep coming back to them, to sleep and often to use drugs.
“Residents keep giving them money, food and goods when they beg at intersections. Please do not do this,” Da Silva stressed.
“It does not help the homeless and it is turning many parts of our neighbourhood into dirty, dangerous, and unhygienic no-go zones. Residents should please donate to homeless shelters and soup kitchens instead,” she said.
Better Bedfordview chairperson Marina Constas echoed this plea.
“Bedfordview residents must stop giving money to beggars and the homeless on street corners. Our Better Bedfordview team encountered unimaginable filth while cleaning up under the bridge.
“As residents, we allowed the situation to continue for far too long as the rubbish continued to build up.”
Constas said RAG and Better Bedfordview are collaborating with the Ekurhuleni Homeless Association to find places for the homeless.
“We are working with people who are offering to build container homes for the homeless on parcels of land which the government are mandating us to find.
“Please, in the interim, stop supporting the homeless people and women with babies on the street.
“Not only are you placing pressure on our resources to remove them, you are contributing to a larger security issue, you are enabling their drug use, and you are ensuring that the homes in the area devalue,” she stated.
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Da Silva added that the bridge cleanup had been “incredible and difficult” and thanked the Better Bedfordview team for their efforts.
“We will continue to do this regularly, to ensure that we keep our streets clean of grime and crime.
“I am so incredibly grateful to our wonderful community for all your support that makes this possible,” she said.
Residents who would like a list of shelters and soup kitchens that they can donate to should email info@betterbedfordview.org.za.
