A legal case is being sought against the City of Cape Town after it moved 1,500 displaced people off the streets and accommodated them at the Strandfontein Sports Complex at the start of the national lockdown. The City’s move was carried out in accordance with the Disaster Management Act Regulations. In its High Court application, the residents of Strandfontein want the shelter for the homeless to be shut down, saying it poses a health risk to everyone.

However, Mayor of Cape Town, Dan Plato said the disaster management act came into effect almost immediately after the President announced the lockdown leaving the City with no time to make long-winded decisions.

Several organizations including NPO, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) are calling for the closing of the site, citing it as unsanitary and a breeding ground for Covid-19 and Tuberculosis. Plato said he doesn’t believe that the site needs to decommissioned, after several organizations argued to have the site mothballed.

“If there is a problem, the problem needs to be identified and rectified,” Plato said matter-of-factly.

Plato said all the reports he has encountered have vague concerns. There are no concrete facts stipulating any health concerns for the displaced people.

“There are so many accusations of health and safety concerns at the site but nobody has actually come out an identified any of these concerns. If they could and approach us with these issues we could correct them but that hasn’t happened,” said Plato.

Plato said it is quite obvious that there would be health and safety concerns as there over a thousand people with different ailments being housed together, However, he said those with TB are being kept separate. Subsequently, Plato said there a handful of doctors on-site around the clock and a team of nurses.

However, SA Human Rights Commissioner Chris Nissen was in disagreement with this claim.

“With all due respect to the Mayor there is no 24/7 health system that is in place at the site. I’ve been there myself and witnessed conditions first hand,” said Nissen.

Nissen also advised that the site be open to members of the media at all hours of the day without needing to make an appointment like the City suggests need to be done.

“I think it’s important that we open up the place to the public so that they can decide for themselves the conditions of the site,” urged Nissen.

Nissen said he has tried on two occasions to communicate with the local government but was never granted the opportunity to raise their health concerns cited by.

“There is an old saying that goes the more you keep out, the more people are going to speculate,” stated Nissen.

Nissen said that through a team of people that have worked on the site, they have witnessed and reported back ill and inhumane treatment on the site.

“The recommendation from the professionals that have visited the site is that it needs to be closed,” emphasised Nissen.

Plato said that the decision was made in less than a week for the homeless to be housed on the sporting complex.

“It is important to note that the decision was made in unprecedented times. The City put that place together between four to five days,” said Plato.

The short time frame the City was allocated is one of the reasons why they failed to communicate with the local community but Plato denied it was done out of malice.

“At the end of the day, we had to do our best under the regulations imposed by national government,” said Plato.

Plato addressed the comments that cited the Strandfontein site would eventually turn into a permanent site.

“I’ve said it before and I will say it again, if you look at the disaster management act you will see that all these facilities are structured for a period that may be extended but not beyond the state of the national disaster,” Plato concluded.

VOC