Scores of homeless people were living on the grassy patch adjacent to and on the Three Anchor Bay Tennis Club courts. Picture: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
The City of Cape Town has been aggressively clearing homeless encampments across the city since a High Court judgment granted the City a conditional order to evict those individuals living at the Three Anchor Bay Tennis Club earlier this year.
This judgment was followed by yet another two judgments in the City’s favour but all conditional to the City providing alternative accommodation for those whom they evict and also conditional to the City effecting the changes at their safe spaces which their lawyers had committed to during court proceedings.
I, along with other activists and organisations convinced those to be evicted during the eviction at seven hotspots in the Cape Town CBD approximately two months ago to accept the City’s offer of accommodation at their latest safe space , known as the Ebeneezer Safe Space in Green Point.
We were hopeful the City would take the opportunity and for once honour their commitments made in court and the basis on which their court order had been granted.
But unfortunately, the City reneged on their promises and especially their promise to change the rule at all their safe spaces that forces all residents out by 8 am and only allows them to return at 5pm, which renders these individuals homeless for virtually the entire day and prone to break anyone of the City's own nuisance bylaws by virtue of having nowhere to rest or indeed do anything that other homed individuals would be able to do on returning home from a trip to the City.
This resulted in most of those individuals convinced to accept the City’s offer Leaving the Ebeneezer Safe space within days of arriving and the majority now sleep in the street between the Central Police station and the City’s Magistrate’s Court.
A group of approximately 20 have moved onto the streets of Maitland.
And of course when the same offer was made last week to those living outside the Castle, most refused that offer and have merely relocated elsewhere.
Displacement of individuals living on the streets will come at a heavy price to both those being evicted and their homed neighbours.
I am not in the least a supporter of unserviced, unmanaged, unhygienic, unsightly and unsafe homeless encampments. As someone who has experienced living under these conditions, I abhor them. But prior to merely evicting and displacing, a caring City would ensure that they adhere to the promises they made in court to ensure those taking them up on their offer of accommodation, stay accommodated and off the streets.
But it would seem as if the spaces are merely a PR exercise to keep the ill informed public under the impression that the City is doing all it can do to offer these ungrateful homeless people a decent place to stay and those that remain on the streets are those that want to be on the streets. And with this narrative ensure the public sentiment is not with those living on the streets.
This has always been the City of Cape Town narrative.
But these evictions and displacements are causing psychological and physical harm to people living out on the streets despite the celebratory statements that are coming out of the City.
Mayor Geordin Hill Lewis keeps issuing statements saying the city’s evictions have been a big success. Adding that the City’s social development department staff are offering services and support to people living on the streets, but many are still denying the help.
“We have seen more progress than we’ve seen in a long time because we’re making it harder for people to live on the streets.”
These comments show that the Mayor is ignoring how dangerous these evictions and displacements are to people experiencing homelessness.
International studies have shown that homeless evictions and displacements can take as much as 20 years off an individual’s life because of the stress and trauma they inflict.
These evictions also cause people experiencing homelessness to lose personal items like clothes, ID documents, and medications, all of which can make it more difficult for them to attain jobs and housing.
Describing their evictIons as a success shows that the Mayor is ignoring these issues.
His comments also show that he is more focused on hiding homelessness than resolving the underlying issues that lead to people losing their homes. Many of the families and elderly people living on the streets of Cape Town are on the city’s waiting list for housing.
There’s really no solution that the city is offering. And when the city says that it’s offering services, it’s really an empty offer.
Homeless evictions are becoming more common across the country as politicians criminalize homelessness instead of providing solutions to systemic issues that cause it.
We’re fighting a crucial battle against misinformation and the criminalisation of homelessness.
The pandemic underscored the urgent need to overhaul housing policies, revealing that many homelessness initiatives rely too heavily on law enforcement rather than housing and social services.
Stand with our vulnerable neighbours and urge your ward councillors to take meaningful action to address homelessness.
As the first step toward ending homelessness, stop the lies and spin by politicians by prioritising and releasing uncensored information that gives a true reflection of the state of homelessness in the City and call for compassionate solutions over punitive measures.
* Mesquita is a previously homeless man and founder of Outsider, an organisation focused on enlightening people on homelessness and on accommodating those living on the streets in a dignified and sustainable manner.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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