STATEMENT BY BRETT HERRON, GOOD MEMBER OF THE WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL PARLIAMENT AND SECRETARY GENERAL
7 APRIL 2020
REPORTS: STRANDFONTEIN CAMP TURNS VIOLENT
CITY OF CAPE TOWN MUST BACK DOWN AND ACCOMMODATE HOMELESS PEOPLE UNDER COVER IN TOWN
The City of Cape Town must immediately shelve its medieval plans to dump homeless residents in marquees in the mud on the outskirts of town.
Available options include the above ground parking garages of the Civic Centre, the stadiums, empty government buildings like the Tafelberg School – or renting empty buildings from private property owners.
The City should be ashamed at its opportunistic abuse of the coronavirus pandemic to forcibly remove homeless people from city and suburban environs and dump them on the Strandfontein sports ground.
It was no surprise to hear this afternoon that law enforcement officials at the internment camp had their hands full containing angry victims of this cruel city policy.
The camp, intended for up to 4,000 homeless people from across the City of Cape Town, was sprung on an unsuspecting Strandfontein community without consultation.
This is not the time for politics. But it needs to be said that the DA-led City is showing utter disdain for people it does not regard as part of its constituency. Besides dumping the homeless, the city callously dragged its feet permitting township food traders to do their work.
Our response to the coronavirus cannot be managed in this sectarian way. The virus recognises neither skin colour nor class.
I call on the Mayor of Cape Town to abandon this cruel concentration camp for our most vulnerable people and urgently implement an alternative and more humane plan.
ends