Statement by Mark Rountree, GOOD National Policy Officer
24 June 2021
SANParks has indicated that the devastating fire which ravaged the City of Cape Town in April is likely to have been started by someone throwing or firing something from a car.
A reward is being offered for more information.
Fire investigator Rob Erasmus reported that CCTV records showed a car driving slowly along the road edge just before the fire began.
These new facts highlight the cruel and false scapegoating of the City’s homeless communities led by the City of Cape Town.
Homeless people are systemically harassed, arrested and have their belongings taken away, while senior councillors including JP Smith lie that there are sufficient spaces in shelters for nobody to have to live on the streets.
By victimising members of this community, many of whom already find themselves in desperate situations, the city creates circumstances in which it is easy to round up the homeless at the advent of the pandemic and dump them in Strandfontein – or blame them for starting devastating fires.
The victimisation must stop. The City of Cape Town owes homeless residents an apology.
It cannot be a crime to be poor, or a person of colour in the “wrong” neighbourhood – as it was under apartheid.
GOOD encourages law enforcement to catch the criminals and protect the poor.
For more information please call Mark Rountree, National Policy Officer for GOOD, 082 8880 4393.
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