SECUNDA – Homeless people sleeping and messing in front of shops in the CBD of Secunda are still a problem.
Although the municipality and the police joined forces to removed them in 2018, they are back and still causing havoc for the shop owners in the area.
The Ridge Times reported in 2018 that they threatened women working in the surrounding shops with rape and violence.
The homeless took over the area in the CBD again last year and began sleeping in store entrances.
The Ridge Times reported on this issue several times last year. Mr Donald Green, spokesman of Govan Mbeki Municipality, said on 13 December the Govan Mbeki Law Enforcement officers form joint operations with the police to remove people who sleep on the streets in Secunda and Evander CBDs.
He further said it is a major problem with the business owners, as these people would prolong their sleep in front of the businesses until late in the morning.
“It also affected the municipal workers who clean around the CBDs, because the street sleepers intimidate them and the areas are then not cleaned,” said Mr Green.
“Since there are no available ablution facilities, they defecate on pavements and in front of the shops.
“The operations are not about confiscation of their property, but the removal of items that polluted the CBDs such as cardboards, store trolleys, woods and papers.
“The items we remove, are dumped at the landfill site.”
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However, later in December one of the men threatened a woman with a knife when she asked them to move so that she could open up the shop where she works.
A man working in the CBD said recently a church brought cake and treats to the homeless people and although it is a nice gesture from the church, the homeless then left the containers in which the cake had been served, all over the show for someone else to clean.
Since the shops opened again in the new year, the homeless people are still there and the women working in the CBD still have to daily face them and have difficulty opening the businesses at which they work.
The Ridge Times again asked the communications department of Govan Mbeki Municipality for comment regarding this matter as it is still a problem, but they did not respond at the time of going to print.
