Cape Town - It’s D-day for the city centre’s homeless to pack up their tent cities and clear out – or face demolition of their structures and the sheriff of the court.
An eviction order was granted by the Western Cape High Court, permitting the City to evict hundreds of unlawful street people occupying public spaces around the CBD on August 1.
Their locations are on Buitengracht Street, FW de Klerk Boulevard, Foregate Square, taxi rank and Foreshore, Helen Suzman Boulevard, Strand Street, Foreshore/N1, Virginia Avenue, and Mill Street Bridge.
The decision for eviction notifications was first granted in February 2023, with the latest ruling following a protracted legal battle with the Social Economic Rights Institute NGO.
Yesterday, the City said: “Preparations are still being finalised. As per the court order, the eviction can only occur after July 30. All respondents have been offered shelter at the new Ebenezer Safe Space, but also have the option of other facilities.
“No person has the right to reserve a public space as exclusively theirs while indefinitely refusing all offers of shelter and social assistance. The City will approach the courts for relief where needed,” it said.
With assistance from the SAPS, the City will have the authority to remove, demolish and evict structures if occupants fail or refuse to leave.
Carlos Mesquita, an activist and the founder of Outsider, a community upliftment organisation for the homeless, said he hoped the court would keep its word by supervising the evictions and accommodating those who choose to accept the City’s offers of shelter. The number of homeless persons that live in Cape Town or the CBD is unclear.
“I trust that the court will keep its word and assume responsibility in this matter, and that the City is kept to the changes they had to make at the Safe Space where these individuals will be accommodated as the court order was granted on the City’s commitment to those changes,” Mesquita said.
A new Ebenezer Safe Space has offered shelter to all responders, though they also have other options.
The new 300-bed shelter was officially opened earlier this week by mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis. The facility, housed in a section of the Ebenezer Road municipal depot in Green Point, is the fifth Safe Space the City has opened, bringing the total number of beds across these facilities to 1 070.
“Cape Town is making an unprecedented investment of R220 million to expand and operate Safe Space shelters around the city,” Hill-Lewis said.
Safe Spaces provide social programmes and respectable transitional housing to help people leave the streets permanently, reintegrate into society, and reunite with their families.
“In this way, we are putting caring, social developmental approaches at the centre of our strategy to help more homeless people off the streets, and to ensure that public places are open and available to all,” Hill-Lewis said.
Meanwhile, ward 115 councillor in Cape Town Ian McMahon said winter always impacts the homeless harshly.
“Along with the winter programme to assist NGOs to expand extra bed space in the cold wet winter, we truly hope that those choosing to live on the streets accept our offer of a dignified transitional shelter,” McMahon said.