21 January 2020
Statement from GOOD Party Secretary-General Brett Herron
CITY OF CAPE TOWN CONTINUES TO VICTIMISE HOMELESS PEOPLE IN DEFIANCE OF COURT ORDER TO STOP
The GOOD movement wants an urgent commitment from Executive Mayor of Cape Town Dan Plato to uphold the constitution and the law after evidence came to light that law-enforcement officials are continuing to persecute homeless residents.
A community activist posted video and photographic evidence on social media last week (https://bit.ly/2R7fJ29) indicating that the city is defying a High Court order of last September, extended in December, prohibiting it from harassing or abusing homeless people, or interfering with or confiscating their personal property.
Just after the video was filmed, city officials allegedly returned to confiscate the possessions of homeless people, including pet food. None of the confiscated goods were bagged or tagged. One of the homeless people was unable to go to her place of work the next day because her work clothes has been confiscated.
Besides being in contempt of a court order, GOOD Party Secretary-General wrote to Mayor Dan Plato, the City’s attitude and conduct is immoral because the conduct of being homeless cannot be unlawful in the absence of alternative accommodation.
Last July Mayco Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, lied to the Sunday Times that there were enough beds in Cape Town shelters for homeless people.
In 2017 the Western Cape Social Development department estimated that 4862 people were homeless. The department reported that it was funding 1499 bed spaces in 2019/20.
The Constitution protects the “right to freedom and security of the person” including the right “not to be treated or punished in a cruel, inhuman or degrading way”, Herron informed Plato.
The City’s conduct, and continued reliance on by-laws that are subject to review for their constitutionality, is in contempt of a court order and amounts to cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, he said.
“Your government is conducting itself as if it is above the law. In the process it is persecuting poor, vulnerable and homeless people for conduct that is unavoidable for as long as you do not provide an alternative,” Herron wrote, demanding that the mayor publicly confirms the City’s commitment to abiding by the court order, respecting the judiciary and the rule of law, and honouring the South African constitution.
Ends…