Government considering keeping homeless at shelters permanently
“They have been moved to various temporary shelters across the city, including stadiums, churches and community halls.”
Approximately 2 500 homeless people, including the disabled and elderly have been housed in temporary shelters across Pretoria.
Tshwane metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said: “They have been moved to various temporary shelters across the city, including stadiums, churches and community halls.”
He said government across all spheres was “toying” with the idea of looking for permanent accommodation for them after the lockdown.
Mashigo said there were no longer homeless people at the Caledonian stadium.
“(The stadium) has been shut down. All the homeless substance abusers have been relocated to the Lyttleton sports park in Centurion.”
He said the problem for the metro during the lockdown was the lack of resources to cater to the homeless.
“We are appealing for donations, material and assistance of any kind as our meagre financial resources can’t cope.”
Mashigo said it was too early for the metro to deduce how much had been spent on the homeless since the lockdown.
READ MORE: Security beefed up at Lyttelton homeless shelter
“It’s too early to quantify the cost. National and Gauteng government have been enormously helpful.”
He said the metro was not prepared to deal with the homeless before the lockdown.
“No one could have planned and anticipated this, so it was a first not only for the metro, but for the whole country,” he said.
“We have done exceptionally well under the circumstances, challenges notwithstanding. There was trial and error, and we learnt valuable lessons in the process.”
Mashigo said since the lockdown the Tshwane department of health had been screening the homeless.
“None had so far exhibited symptoms of virus.
“We are providing them with methadone and 24-hour ambulance services are available for them.”
The metro relocated all the homeless housed at a makeshift shelter at the Caledonian stadium in Arcadia to other shelters across Pretoria last Tuesday.
Rekord witnessed the last group of more than 20 people climbing onto buses.
READ MORE: Centurion residents blindsided after relocation of homeless to sports ground
More than 2 000 homeless people were relocated as authorities responded to mounting fears that the stadium was overcrowded and thus in transgression of national Covid-19 pandemic rules.
“They were removed because of being too many in one space and with regard to Covid-19, we have to maintain social distancing,” Caledonian stadium site manager Joel Mayephu.
On Tuesday, the law enforcement agencies, including police, metro police and CPF patrollers, searched the homeless for illegal items and found several syringes, boxes of matches and razors before they boarded the buses.
Dr Priyadarshni Naidoo, from Tshwane District Hospital, urged residents to help the homeless.
She said they especially needed food, blankets and hygiene items.
Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news.
Dear reader,
As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19.
Readers with any commentsA or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za).
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
