The City evicted a number of homeless people living outside the Castle of Good Hope on Friday, and said a clean up of the site was underway. Picture: Leon Lestrade/Independent Newspapers
The City has proposed amendments to its By-Law Relating to Streets, Public Places and the Prevention of Noise Nuisances which the municipality said would reflect the strategy of offering transitional shelter to help people off the streets, in partnership with the NPO sector.
This follows the eviction of occupants at the Castle of Good Hope site on Friday morning under the direction of the Sheriff of the Court, with the assistance of the SAPS and metro police.
The City said social development professionals assisted the national Department of Public Works and Infrastructure by documenting the personal circumstances of the unlawful occupants via on-site interviews.
Offers of transitional shelter at City Safe Spaces and NGO-run night shelters were made. Safe Spaces offer social programmes to assist people off the streets, reintegrate them into society, and reunite them with family.
In August, the City completed all processes related to the final eviction order obtained for various unlawful occupation sites in the Cape Town CBD along Buitengracht Street, FW de Klerk Boulevard, Foregate Square, taxi rank and Foreshore, Helen Suzman Boulevard, Strand Street, Foreshore/N1, Virginia Avenue and Mill Street Bridge.
The High Court further granted the City two similar eviction orders in recent months for central Cape Town, at the Green Point Tennis Courts in the vicinity of the Nelson Mandela Boulevard intersection with Hertzog Boulevard, Old Marine Drive, and Christiaan Barnard Bridge.
“(The Castle) has been a very visible site of urban decay in recent years, and its clean-up is an important moment for urban restoration in the city,” said mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
“The unlawful occupation began during the national lockdown, and we are relieved it has come to an end, not only because of the Castle’s tourism and economic importance, but also for the sake of the unlawful occupants.
Accepting social assistance to get off the streets is the best choice for dignity, health, and well-being. No person has the right to reserve a public space as exclusively theirs, while indefinitely refusing all offers of shelter and social assistance.”
The City currently operates two Safe Spaces at Culemborg in the east CBD, which offer 510 shelter beds across the facilities, with a new 300-bed Safe Space in Green Point opened in July 2024. A further facility is on the cards for Muizenberg.
GOOD Party city councillor Roscoe Palm, however, said the City’s evictions of people living at the Castle follow a trend of undermining the dignity of the poor, the working class and the unemployed.
“These evictions, while technically legal, represent the latest assault on the dignity of the vulnerable in our city. The GOOD Party acknowledges the City's claim that people should be moved to more suitable locations.
However, the City's portrayal of itself as a victim of illegal occupation is misleading. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it was the City that relocated these people to the Castle site from a makeshift camp for homeless individuals.”
Palm said the individuals affected by the Castle eviction were forcibly moved to Safe Spaces One and Two, which he alleged were overcrowded.
“This only demonstrates that the City has no comprehensive plan to address the underlying conditions that lead to homelessness,” Palm said.
The By-Law Relating to Streets, Public Places and the Prevention of Noise Nuisances was first introduced in 2007. It was amended in 2021, and the City said the safety and security portfolio committee will now oversee the process to introduce additional amendments that will reflect their ongoing strategy of offering dignified transitional shelter to help people off the streets, in partnership with the NPO sector.
“The proposed amendments to this by-law now better reflect this existing model, which our trained officials are already following daily on Cape Town streets. It ensures that any legal action taken against persons occupying public spaces, whether that be fines or court sanction, is applied as a means of last resort and only after a person has refused all offers of alternative placement and social services,” said chairperson of the safety and security portfolio committee, Mzwakhe Nqavashe.
The public has until November 30 to comment on the proposed amendments.
The draft amendments can be viewed on the "have your say" section on the City’s website, at subcouncil offices and City libraries.
Comments can be submitted via email at public.places@capetown.gov. za, or visit: www.capetown.gov.za/ haveyoursay.
Written submissions must be sent to: Attention: Leon Wentzel, Law Enforcement Department, 3rd Floor, Tower Block, Civic Centre, 2 Hertzog Boulevard, Cape Town, 8000.
People who cannot read or write, people living with disabilities and people from disadvantaged groups who are unable to submit written comments, can have their comments or input recorded and submitted to the City by contacting Anathi Dywili at 021 400 9825 or via email anathi. dywili@capetown.gov.za
Cape Times