Give vouchers, not cash to beggars, says councillor
“Be part of the solution and not the problem” when helping street people, says Claremont ward councillor Katherine Christie.
Each week for the past year, Ms Christie says, she and City cleaners have cleared empty liquor bottles and other rubbish from the Claremont police station and Clareinch post office verges, where squatters have pitched tents and built crude shelters.
There were about 10 street people on the site near the end of last month, but their numbers can swell to around 50 at night, according to Derek Bluck, chairman of the Har-Lyn Neighbourhood Watch.
“It can get dangerous with the high amount of sleepers. Patrollers will, however, intervene if someone starts a fire. We will then call in reinforcements before approaching,” he said.
Men and women at the site very clearly had substance-abuse problems and needed help, said Ms Christie.
“I genuinely care about them and engage with them one-to-one, asking them if they need help; most of them say yes, and then allow me to take their name and a photo of them, which I send to our team of social workers.”
She appealed to the public to give Mi-Change vouchers to beggars and casual car guards in yellow vests instead of cash.
The vouchers – which were created by U-Turn and Mould Empower Serve, two non-profit organisations that help the homeless – can be redeemed at partnering service providers for a meal, a bed, shelter, clothing, a shower and toiletries.
The Harfield Village Community Improvement District also does cleaning in the vicinity of the police station and post office, according to manager Jen Rowe. “Unfortunately it is a cycle; we clean up, and then the next minute the cycle of waste continues,” she said. “We can’t wait for someone else to do things, we need to be part of the solution.”
Mongezi Kolisi, 26, who is originally from Philippi, said he had been living in a tent near the post office since the end of last year.
“I left Philippi to go stay at a family’s place in Lotus River, though I left because the gangsters wanted me to be part of their gang,” he said. “They forced me to take the gang tattoo.”
He said he had worked on building sites, but there was no work at the moment, and he was willing to seek help from a social worker.
Mayoral committee member for urban waste management Grant Twigg said the City cleaned the area daily and its social development and early childhood development department offered assistance to the homeless.
“Despite the City’s ongoing efforts, the street often deteriorates into a messy condition,” he said.
Mayoral committee member for community services and health Patricia van der Ross said their field workers had to endure aggression, threats and abusive behaviour and most street people were unwilling to go to a shelter.
She urged the public not to give cash and food to street people but to rather report them to the City’s social development department for assistance.
Claremont police station commander Colonel Maree Louw said the squatters were on City property and while they were not committing any crime simply by being homeless, it was a challenge dealing with them because they did not want to go to a shelter.
