OPINION: Forced removal and fines are not solutions to our homelessness problem, says rylandfisher
Cape Town - The sight as the plane approaches Cape Town is always welcoming, especially to someone who was born in this city and who loves it dearly. After you fly over the Hottentots Holland mountains, you see the Winelands, then the sea and then, depending on which side of the plane you are in, you might see Robben Island and Table Mountain. It is beauty personified.
In between the beauty, there is a side of the city the authorities have been failing to deal with for years. The only way they know how to deal with the many homeless people on the city streets is to remove them, often forcibly, as media reports said this week.Remember in 2010, ahead of the Football World Cup, the authorities removed all the homeless people from the city’s streets.
For many years the city’s slogan was “The city that works for you”. But if you asked most people on the Cape Flats they would say this should rather have been “The city that works for some”. The "some" are those who live in the leafy suburbs where they have become used to certain privileges.In a city and society that is as unequal as South Africa, one could be surprised that there are only a few hundred homeless people in the central business district.
To those who live on the Cape Flats and who sometimes never get to leave their townships - often because they cannot afford the train, bus or taxi fare - the beauty of Cape Town is something they can only imagine.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Residents forced to live without toilets'In our homes we have sick people, pregnant women, people with disabilities, and children who have nowhere to relieve themselves.'
Read more »
Hacking while KwaZulu-Natal burnsA week before schools closed, the Port Edward area had been dry as a bone, the desperation apparent on the faces of the local people, 175 000 of whom had been forced to share borehole water with livestock or wait for it to be trucked in for three months.
Read more »
Tennis coach saves Herschel school girl from knife attack | Weekend ArgusA Claremont tennis coach became an accidental hero when he rescued a girl from being mugged at knifepoint - by hitting the attacker with his tennis racquet.
Read more »
Integrated support for startups the solution to youth unemploymentThe government and the private sector need to put in place programmes and facilities that nurture new business ventures
Read more »
Police on high alert for Durban July weekendPeople need to be aware of criminals who may be mingling with the crowd, so they should not leave any valuables unattended, the police say.
Read more »