[Editor’s Note: Carlos Mesquita’s column was written prior to the Tennis court evictions, “Green Point tennis court squatters evicted: ‘I blame ourselves for the eviction’”. Mesquita is also a member of the GOOD Party]
This was meant to be the week of the much-anticipated and much-dreaded “Three Anchor Bay Tennis Academy eviction of the homeless”.
It became much like the State of the Nation Address – much ado about nothing (apologies to Shakespeare).
The eviction was scheduled for February 8 and so it should have been done by now. As I write this column, it hasn’t. The individuals living there have neither been accommodated nor found themselves alternatives.
In an independent intervention supported by friends and members of the public, we managed to move a few of the residents from the area, mostly families and those with a means of earning a living, to independent living spaces in the CBD. The first month’s rental at these spaces has been covered by friends of my organisation and members of the public.
The intervention will see the individuals assisted having to become responsible in ensuring they are able to cover the costs of their accommodation from next month.
This is an independent living option, so these guys will have agency and the opportunity to decide on what their best futures will look like from here on.
We have also offered them other support services, which they are free to accept or refuse. I will keep readers posted on some of their journeys as they manoeuvre and, hopefully, progress through what are going to be some challenging times. I consider them the lucky ones.
Then, there are those who have left the encampment and found themselves another spot in the area, which means the City has, in these cases, not achieved its goal to rid itself of those living on the streets of Sea Point and Green Point.
And then we have those that have decided to stay on at “Tent City” until the eviction becomes a physical reality. At last count, there were 41 such individuals.
The City and its social workers said in their press release late last week that most of the individuals had accepted assistance to move either to shelters and safe spaces or to build “hokkies” in Delft.
The City seems to have conveniently forgotten that its mayor promised the individuals a new, transitional 300-bed safe space in Green Point (this came after the City lost its first round court battle to evict the individuals).
The promise, made more than 18 months ago, remains unfulfilled.
An independent count and assessment of those living in the Tent City enclosure confirms the City’s count of those living there but the choices each of them have made pertaining to their futures differ from the City’s reported optimism.
In fact, only four said they would be accepting the City offers of relocation, with the bulk (37) saying they would remain in the area and wait till things calm down before finding a spot to set up a home again and “maar wait and see how long before they try to get rid of us again”.
Again, no real sustainable solution has been found for either the residents of Green Point and Sea Point, or those that have since just post-Strandfontein called the area their home. This after the City had dumped them on the streets with no offers of support almost four years ago.
The eviction, just like the eviction exactly a year ago in Durbanville, will bring bigger and more pressing challenges for all concerned, as is evident in Durbanville. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
The unsustainable and unworkable system of addressing the accommodation of those living on the streets should have been done away with ages ago.
It is a system that discriminates against those living on the streets and strips them of any dignity they might have left.
It is a system that contributes to, rather than reduces, the growing numbers of those we call chronically homeless.
May the City and the mayor realise this before it’s too late and Cape Town starts looking like many other major cities in the world that have made and continue to make these mistakes.
* Carlos Mesquita.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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