The City of Cape Town says they will today start moving homeless people to shelters in order to comply with the order by the President to have people everyone to stay indoors.
Mayco member for Community Services and Health Zahid Badroodien says they will ensure that the shelters will comply with the social distancing norms and testing for
COVID-19 will be conducted at these shelters.
“The parking lot adjacent to the City’s Culemborg Safe Space will be the first site to be utilised. A tent will be erected, along with sanitation facilities, as well as the implementation of appropriate social distancing measures. The City’s Law Enforcement Department will escort persons to the site. City Health will also be onsite to screen individuals and ensure that they are not presenting symptoms of COVID-19,” Badroodien said.
He said there were buildings that have been indicated by the national government to be available for the purposes of housing the homeless but were subsequently withdrawn.
He said as the municipality they are working on getting more places for the housing of street dwellers.
“The City is undertaking to make available sites in all four geographical areas within the next week, where street people can be housed during the lockdown. The search for temporary shelter is taking some time, after initial sites, touted by the national government, were subsequently withdrawn,” he added.
