If you’re on the street it is because you have elected to be – DA’s JP Smith

The Cape Town mayoral committee’s head of safety and security, JP Smith, responded on Cape Talk to a report in News24 that looked at the City of Cape Town’s commitment to enforcing certain by-laws that might affect the homeless following complaints from residents.

Smith said the outrage over the article had been “manufactured” by the ANC’s “media machine” and their “political minions”.

According to Smith, the City of Cape Town made sure that the by-laws in Cape Town were more pro-poor than in other major cities, adding that they conducted a “comparison side-by-side with Joburg, Durban and Tshwane”.

“When the City made its streets and public places by-law, we purposely designed the by-law that was substantially more humane and dignified than some of the anti-poor horrors we saw around South Africa,” he said.

According to Smith, the call for greater enforcement of by-laws has come from residents, and the City is only trying to make sure the homeless adhere to the same laws as anyone else.

“Communities across the city are sending complaints in their thousands about the lack of enforcement of by-laws regarding homeless people,” he said.

Smith believes that the City has addressed the problem of homelessness to the point that anyone on the street is there by choice.

READ MORE: Reports of Cape Town fining the homeless ‘paint a distorted picture’ – Maimane

“For a few years, we took our foot off the enforcement and focused on social development and now we are matching that with more sustained enforcement knowing there is no person on the street because they need to be as they have all been offered accommodation by the reintegration unit,” he said.

“If you’re on the street, it is because you have elected to be. Alternatives are being offered all the time,” he concluded.

Questions have been sent to Smith and The Citizen will do a follow-up story based on his answers.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane said on Twitter on Wednesday that the News24 article “tries to paint a distorted picture about the DA’s work in government”, but his office would not respond to questions on specifically what distortions there are in the article.

Maimane is in communication with Cape Town mayor Dan Plato to look into the matter, and says he will “provide feedback to the public including info on initiatives to assist the homeless”.

The article detailed how, due to complaints from residents, the City of Cape Town has committed to enforce certain by-laws, such as those relating to the erecting of a shelter or sleeping or camping overnight in any undesignated area; those relating to “noise nuisances”; as well as ones relating obstructing pedestrian on public pavements or “depositing, packing, unpacking or leaving any goods in a public place”.

City of Cape Town law enforcement spokesperson Wayne Dyason said fines were not targeting homeless people in the city’s streets, the laws were targeting people that erected temporary shelters, obstructed sidewalks, lit fires, and left any goods in public places, he told the publication.

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)

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