SECUNDA – Homeless people sleeping and messing in front of shops in the CBD of Secunda is still a problem.
Although the municipality and the police joined forces to remove the vagrants in 2018, they are back and still causing havoc to 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 front of other shops.
The Ridge Times also 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 do 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, as these people would intimidate them and leave the area not cleaned,” said Mr Green.
“Since there are no facilities for them to relieve themselves, they defecated on pavements and in front of the shops.
“The operation is not about confiscation, but the removal of items that polluted the CBDs, such as cupboards, store trolleys, wood and papers.
“The items we remove are dumped at the landfill site.”
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However, later in December one of the homeless men threatened a woman with a knife when she asked them to move out of a shop’s entrance.
She wanted to open up the store where she works.
Since the shops opened again in the New Year, the CBD is again flooded with vagrants and the women working in the CBD still have to daily face the street dwellers and struggle to open up the stores where they work.
Ridge Times again asked the communications department of Govan Mbeki Municipality for comment, but they did not respond at the time of going to print.
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