WATCH: House the homeless during lockdown, but respect their rights

In the streets of Roodepoort, Johannesburg’s homeless beggars were largely uninformed about the looming lockdown and how they could protect themselves from the Covid-19 virus.

Hermanus Nel, 45 , survives by begging for change at an intersection in Horizon.

“I just hear about this virus but I have to believe that I am strong,” he told us.

He and his wife sleep in a nearby alley at night. His concern was that his daily source of income, begging, would be cut off during the lockdown and he hoped beggars would be allowed to continue to beg.

“If I can’t come here and make some  money every day then I cannot eat, so lockdown or not, I need to be here.”

Further down Ontdekkers Road near Florida Junction, Jacob Joubert, 47, is oblivious to the week’s coming events and any news of the coronavirus. He has a speech impediment and relies on daily handouts from kind strangers in cars crossing the busy intersection.

Joubert and Nel were among Johannesburg’s estimated 5,500 homeless people who could find themselves on the wrong side of the law should they insist on continuing to beg for food and money in the streets.

Jacob Joubert (47) speaks to The Citizen at the corner of Ontdekkers and Conradie street at Roodepoort in Johannesburg, 24 March 2020 about being homeless. Picture:Nigel Sibanda

Human rights and the treatment of South Africa’s most vulnerable will be under the spotlight while the country enters a 21-day lockdown enforced by the country’s police and military from tomorrow.

Civil society groups and the South African Human Rights Commisison (SAHRC) called for the strict observation of human dignity and other protections laid out in the country’s Bill of Rights, as the military and police prepare to enforce the regulations of the nationwide.

SAHRC spokesperson Bongani Majola said the human rights watchdog would monitor and assess the observance of rights during the treatment of the vulnerable. The Commission would also monitor the observance of all the rights in the Bill of Rights, bearing in mind those temporarily limited by the lockdown.

According to Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu the high-risk areas which required the department’s immediate interventions were public areas with limited or no access to water and sanitation services, overcrowded settlements (inclusive of hostels and inner-city areas), informal settlements, rural settlements and water-scarce towns.

“So far, we have identified just over 2,000 communities across the country that will need our urgent attention,” she said.

The department would be responsible for providing interventions in identified areas for hygiene, sanitation and water services. The Social Development department would be responsible for finding shelter for the country’s homeless and ensuring essential services for grant recipients were carried out within the restrictions of the lock-down.

The Gauteng housing department identified buildings in the metros which would be used to house the homeless in accordance with the regulations of the lockdown.

According to Johannesburg housing MMC Mlungisi Mabasa, the department released three of its buildings in the inner-city which would be used in addition to other shelters for isolation and quarantine of the homeless. These were the Fraser House Building, Albert Street Building, and the Nederberg Building.

There were 256 available rooms in these units in total. Other buildings could be made available if the city saw it necessary, he added.

According to Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu, the country’s urban homeless population may not end up in the best of circumstances while on lockdown in temporary homes.

Lindiwe Zulu, Minister of Social Development, can be seen during a press briefing at the DIRCO Media Centre, 24 March 2020, Pretoria. Picture: Jacques Nelles

“Because these are extraordinary circumstances and might need extraordinary action, some things may not necessarily be perfect. The places where we might keep them might not necessarily be perfect, but we want to use this opportunity to make sure that people are also assisted in terms of appreciating and understating,” said Zulu.

But this period could be used as an opportunity to expose them to much needed health and social services they previously had limited access to, she added.

“We saw this as an opportunity to work together with the local structures because we are suddenly responsible as a department in terms of finding the shelters. We did put this for discussion in our task team and I am hoping that as this is a work in progress we will get the plans.”

Zulu noted that some of the homeless may clash with the law if they refused to be assisted by authorities. She called on the law to take its course in this instance.

Majola said the commission would also monitor how the criminal justice system operated during this period in the enforcement of Covid-19 regulations.

“The announced lockdown measures indicate that some people may be arrested. The commission will monitor whether in exercising the powers to arrest and punish, the authorities observe and respect the rights of arrested and detained persons and those on trial.”

The commission nevertheless wanted a human rights approach adopted to government’s interventions with the homeless, including the upholding of their rights to dignity, privacy.

“Since the commission does not have such information and evidence, it would be difficult for it to say how best to deal with the homeless people, save to say that whatever the government does to implement the lockdown must fully respect the rights of those people, subject to the limitations imposed on rights such as movement, association, assembly, demonstration and picket.”

Meanwhile, various advocacy groups put together an action plan to ensure the delivery of essential services during the 21-day lockdown for the most vulnerable in society.

According to a joint statement released by NGO Equal Education and others, these would include access to water and sanitation for the poor. All households, residential institutions, the homeless and the informally housed must have easy access to sanitation, especially water and safe ablution facilities, the group said.

“There must be an immediate opening of restricted water meters, mass-provision of safe water access points with unconstrained flow in areas where there is limited household access to water, and mass distribution of safe ablution facilities to informal settlements,” said the group.

These sanitation points must have access to soap or sanitizer and information on the prevention of the virus.

The activists also called for all households, residential institutions, the homeless and the informally housed to be ensured access to food.

“If we are to stay at home during this time, access to nutritious food is fundamental. The absence of the School Nutrition Programme is devastating. A coordinated and safe roll-out of food packages directly to distribution points in food-stressed neighbourhoods must be implemented. Failing that, the child support grant must be augmented. Support for locally-organised food systems must be strengthened.”

Simnikiweh@citizen.co.za

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