ETHEKWINI Municipality Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda visited local hostels and informal settlements this week, to raise awareness about COVID-19 and urge residents to adhere to the lockdown regulations.
The Municipality has taken a tough stance against the spread of the virus by implementing safety interventions at the City’s rental housing units, transit camps, informal settlements, mass care centres and Community Residential Units formally known as hostels.
“Since the lockdown was declared, we have been to hostels such as SJ Smith, Dalton, Thokoza, Klaarwater and KwaMakhutha. We have also been distributing cleaning material to in informal settlements, transit camps and mass care centres, where the remaining victims of storm disasters are being accommodated,” said Kaunda.
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Commenting on conditions at Dalton Hostel in Congella, Ian Campbell-Gillies from the Umbilo Business Forum (UBF) said the homeless community which usually lived under the bridge at Maydon Wharf had moved up into the already under-pressure Beerhall area at the intersection of Dalton and Sydney Roads.
“Prior to the advent of the Covid-19 virus almost 70 per cent of the three thousand hostel dwellers on the other side of Sydney Road were unemployed. The situation now is significantly worse. We have two businesses in the area as paid-up members and Steve Thusi is a senior leader of the hostel. It is through his constant mediation that many years of peace have ensued here. This is about to change through sheer hunger and rage associated with helplessness. The overcrowding and added crime from the homeless incursion at the beerhall is a recipe for disaster,” he said.
Campbell-Gillies has appealed to members of the UBF for donations which will be used for food and medical supplies at the hostel.
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