eThekwini accused of ‘dumping’ homeless in Illovo

The Denis Hurley Centre was reacting to last week’s meeting, at which Deputy Mayor Zandile Myeni said the 400-bed facility is not a shelter but a rehab centre for those seeking change.

Centre Director Raymond Perrier says if that’s true, it’s welcome, but he remains concerned.

"The municipality has been running safe, open, sleeping spaces for the last five years since COVID, and they've had between 200 and 250 people staying in those different sites. So those are right in the middle of town. 

"They're relatively manageable numbers, and yet in those five years, they've done absolutely nothing to provide social work, rehabilitation, or help reunite people with their families. And so they just became dumping grounds for people."

He questions how the city will manage a bigger site far from town when it has failed to support smaller ones nearby.

Perrier says many homeless people don’t want to go.

"They're in the city centre in the hope that they will find work. They know there's no work down there, so they're not going to go there. If they're forced by the police to go there, they'll just move back, and you can't imprison people. It's not a crime in South Africa to be poor because you want them to be somewhere else.

“That's the apartheid era of policies, making people live where they don't want to live."

READ: Anger in Illovo over relocation of homeless to neighbourhood

He urges the city to work with NGOs for real solutions.

"We've offered on multiple occasions. They're not interested in talking to the NGOs because the NGOs will tell them that their plan is not going to work, and they don't want to hear that.

Residents strongly oppose the project, saying it threatens their safety, especially with a school nearby.

They have told Myeni that their needs have not been considered.

One local says they only found out about the project in January when construction had already begun, and assumed it was a clinic or police station.

"[I thought] we are [going to] get something [amenity], and then what happens? It is a building for a homeless shelter. We have nothing against homeless people, but you can't bring that magnitude into the community. It is not just right, that place must not be there."

Others are calling for the construction to stop, saying there is still no clarity on who the building will accommodate.

" You are calling it a place for flood victims. You are calling it a place for the homeless and all kinds of things. There is no clear transparency. So, as much as you say you want to engage with us, you have lost our trust. That is where the challenge is."

The deputy mayor told residents at the civic centre that the facility will run a six-month rehab programme.

"If you go there, you are going there for a certain period. After that, you go back home because remember I said this is for those who are now saying 'I have been on the street, I've done it all, but I need help’."

Myeni has assured the community that security measures will be in place, adding that engagements with locals will continue.

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