Cape Town - While the City of Cape Town is trying to rid the streets of homeless people with plans to build a new R4million safe space shelter in Muizenberg from the Mayoral Fund, the reality is that some homeless people prefer living on the street where they have the freedom to roam freely and make up to R1 000 a day.
A homeless couple, who sleep under the low hanging Muizenberg bridge in Atlantic Road, said they had been on the streets for years and would not leave.
The couple, who did not want to be named, said they were from Lavender Hill and preferred living on the street rather than in shelters. The boyfriend said he had been on the streets for 33 years, his girlfriend for eight.
“When I see people who were on the streets with us go to shelters, they always relapse and end up back on the streets doing drugs, so what motivation is that for us? We’ve tried joining a shelter and taking part in the programmes but that did not work for us.”
“We often get approached by people who want to help us but we don’t want help from anyone. We are satisfied on the street and will never leave even if it’s winter and raining, we don’t care. It is easy being on the streets, people think it is difficult but it is not. All I have to do is stand at the robots and ask around, ‘small change mam, small change sir’ and I make good money.”
The boyfriend said he chose how much money he wanted to make for the day. If he made a R100 by asking for ‘small change’ he was able to buy food, feed his drug habit and sleep.
Timothy Dyason, 40, from the Happy Valley Home Shelter in Simon’s Town, who has been off the streets for three months receiving treatment at The Muizenberg Service Centre, said motorists and people who give homeless people money were “enablers”.
Dyason said he had roamed the streets of Diep River and Plumstead for 10 years and made up to R500 a day.
“Money is a big trigger for some people, it was my biggest trigger while on the streets. I was on Tik and did not know of any programmes, but on the street people would bring soup and food. But to feed my addiction I would ask for R2 or R5, stand at a shop or robot and ask people for money, and I was okay with my lifestyle.”
“U-turn helped me with my behaviour, depression and relapse. I am working on building a relationship with my family and winning their trust again. I live in a shelter and there are people who smoke and drink in the shelter, but the decision is mine to have a structure so I can stay sober.”
He said his life changed when he begged for R2 and a woman gave him a voucher for a bowl of porridge and coffee at Claremont Service Centre, where he started attending programmes and was able to go for rehab at KwaSizabantu in Malmesbury. His plans were to look for a job and his own place.
Tamzin Adriaans, the manager at the Muizenberg Service Centre, said they provided basic need services and offered programmes that promoted change to 40 individuals daily.
“A lot of clients show commitment and are willing to do what it takes to start their rehabilitation journey. We do not work with money, we have members of the public who donate vouchers and we sponsor anyone with a meal but we encourage them to attend voucher earnings by doing light tasks like community clean ups and gardening.”
“Having a safe space would be semi-beneficial, not only to our clients but those in the area as having an environment which is safe and conducive really encourages them to recover. The street is rough and it is difficult to want to change when you are still stuck in that environment.”
Jacques de Jager from Somerset West, founder of Out and Proud Foundation, is looking to open a shelter in 2025 exclusively for members of the LGBTQIA+ community, who are homeless and often face gender-based violence on the streets.
“I was on the streets for four years and saw the need .I want to do something for the queer community so it will be more like a safe house, because they face abuse.”