Don’t give money to beggars – Metro

According to Metro police spokesperson, Edna Mamonyane, residents who give beggars and window washers money are responsible for the issues these individuals bring with them onto street corners.

Mamonyane’s statement comes after she was questioned on community members’ reactions to the article, Window washers anger resident, in which the issue of window washers at robots was discussed.

In response to the article, one community member’s comment on the Sandton Chronicle Facebook page read, “Not just window washers, but all activity at traffic lights and intersections should be prohibited. No handing out flyers, no entertainers, no selling of goods, no window washers, no beggars, no mothers with small infants (ridiculous) no marketing material. They all cause disruption on the roads that often result in road rage between drivers…”

Mamonyane said that Metro police focus on all of the individuals at street corners, not only window washers. “We [Metro] know that the issue of mothers with infants is an ongoing problem. Metro police often remove these mothers but they come back. If these mothers are South African citizens, they receive a grant from the government for every child that they have,” said Mamonyane.

Read: Council refuses to debate window washers

She highlighted that Metro police work closely with social development to find out why so many mothers are on street corners with their children. To her mind, one of the biggest problems is the fact that these mothers know that they are more likely to get a donation from drivers if they are holding a baby.

“We often deal with cases where these mothers leave their babies to fall asleep on the street corner. The baby then wakes up and crawls into the road. Unfortunately, cars do not see the infant and we have had cases where the child is knocked over.”

Metro police often take these individuals to homeless shelters. “They do not like these shelters because they find them to be too controlling. They aren’t allowed to spend their money on alcohol at the shelters and their eating and sleeping patterns are also controlled here and they do not like this.”

In the Sandton Chronicle article, Tough life in the shadows, the harsh condition in which many Lesotho migrants live was highlighted.

Mamonyane explained how the hardships of individuals from outside South Africa can be seen on our street corners. “Many individuals come from our bordering countries into South Africa. They do not receive government grants and no matter how many times they are deported, they find a way back into the country and are often seen begging on street corners. They have nowhere else to go.”

Read more:

No stopping window washers in Sandton

Don’t encourage the window washers