For more than 4 years, Florentina Branot has been living in the miserable on the streets of Cape Town.
Branot tells Spotlight that he ended up on the street after with the crowd and fitting in a drug addict in Retreat, south of the Cape, the city where he is from.
Sitting on a bed inside the Culemborg Site 2 shelter, Branot says life hasn’t been like that. She had a glorious life, was married and was a father of four children.
He’s 33 years old and looks a lot older.
Her husband, who said he was a gangster, was sentenced to two life sentences for the murder of a transit officer in 2016.
“That’s when my life went into a downward spiral and I discovered myself away through my family. They tried to dissuade me from drugs, but I was already addicted. Then I let myself pass by and live on the streets where no one would judge or rebuke me,” he says.
To fuel his addiction, he says he spent bloodless nights begging at traffic lights.
“Life on the street is very hard. But I’m glad I discovered a space here (Culemborg). I’m grateful for the roof over my head and the hot meals,” she says.
Branot is part of a 96 homeless organization living at Culemborg Site 2 in downtown Cape Town. Many find it difficult to settle for Covid-19 crisis regulations, which, among other things, inspire others to stay in their homes and overcrowded areas.
Level four regulation, issued in April, told the government to provide “temporary shelter for other homeless people who comply with mandatory fitness protocols and sufficiently good spacing standards.” Four months later, Spotlight visited some shelters in Cape Town to assess measures put in place for the health and protection of the homeless.
Cheers on the streets
Before Covid-19, the homeless factor living on the street was explained as a social and housing challenge and less of a fitness challenge. However, the pandemic, for the time being, has focused attention on the fitness and protection of vulnerable populations, adding homeless people.
A recent study cites figures estimating that in 2008 there were between 100,000 and 200,000 homeless people in South Africa. In addition to housing, various other social determinants such as nutrition, addiction and access to water and sanitation have an effect on the fitness of the homeless.
For those who are like Branot, survival is based on being on the street, basically begging and living up to date. While allowed to spend the day, many homeless people in the shelter say they miss their “normal” lives.
“It’s simple to stay here all day, as most of us are used to living on the street. But we have to tolerate living here because on the street, the threat of contracting the virus is high,” said Meitjie Maans, 42.
“People still have a percentage of cigarettes or drugs and put the issue. I [I] manage boredom watching TV and sleeping. The temptations to get out of here and get back on the streets are there, but I stay positive at all times Maans is originally from Ceres.
Diagnosed with tuberculosis a few years ago and recently cured in April, Maans is grateful to stay in the shelter and escape the winter cold on the streets. Before arriving at the shelter, he drank a lot, but said that after the Covid-19 outbreak he made the decision to “take a break” from alcohol. Maans says that due to alcohol and drug withdrawal, most homeless people are “groped” and fights break out.
A study published in the journal Development Southern Africa investigated the fitness and well-being of homeless adults and youth living on the streets in provinces such as Western Cape and Gauteng. He found that sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, drug and alcohol abuse, HIV and malnutrition were a component of this group.
In another study published through BMC Health Services Research, other homeless people living on the street are “more prone to communicable, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and are less likely to access fitnessArray.” Despite this, the study indicates that “there is no public aptitude adapted to the wishes of these communities, especially if they are immigrants.”
Health for the homeless
Western Cape Department of Health spokesman Mark van der Heever said that in collaboration with [Cape Town], the branch has provided a comprehensive clinical service to Strandfontein’s Temporary Emergency Shelter and “continues to provide physical conditioning to homeless people at school number one.” fitness facilities. “The Strandfontein site has been closed ever since.
“We continue to ensure that temperatures are taken daily and, when necessary, other homeless people are transported to our closest fitness services to collect chronic drugs,” van der Heever said.
Mayco member for Community Services and Health, Zahid Badroodien, says they have tests at the Culemborg shelter.
“Anyone who tests Covid-19 [symptoms] is referred to a public quarantine facility or isolation facility if the test is performed,” Badroodien says.
Previously, the city of Cape Town had been criticized by opposition parties in the Western Cape for “throwing” other homeless people under a bridge. But Badroodien denies it.
“We strongly oppose all accusations that the city threw homeless people under a bridge in the CBD. This homeless organization, part of the Strandfontein camp, categorically refused to stay in smaller shelters and chose to return to the CBD to get closer to culemborg’s expanded security area,” Badroodien says.
Recognizing, give us hot water
Michael Fassie, 52, says that although he is grateful for the food and shelter at the Culemborg shelter, life is “terrible.”
Fassie complains about sleeping on a bed on the floor and the lack of hot water to bathe in the cold and rainy winter days.
“We bathe in those buckets with bloodless water every day,” he says, pointing to a five-litre bucket.
“Yes, someone will say we are grateful for the roof over our heads. But what about our dignity? We have been provided with a bathroom so we can shower with hot water. Now we threaten to get the flu and this Covid-19, ” says the father of two sons of Philippes.
Fassie said he worked in the harbor as a fisherman but lived on the street after wasting his homework due to the Covid-19 epidemic.
“I was renting a cabin in a yard and my landlord threw me out and took all my belongings, adding my ID card, when I couldn’t pay the rent. I still had no option to come and live on the streets of Cape Town. Now I can’t even access the R350 aid subsidy for the unemployed because I don’t have ID. Many of us have no identity and have asked the city government to help us, without success,” Fassie says.
Homeless Kevin Pillay works as a monitor at Culemborg’s shelter.
“One thing that bothers me about how other homeless people are perceived,” he says, “is that [other people think] we’re just drug addicts and papsak (ing) addicts. But there are more homeless people than that. We have lawyers, engineers, teachers and doctors. But for other situations, we’re on the street. I just hope people think twice before judging the homeless.
Culemborg Shelter can accommodate 250 homeless people, but due to Covid-19 regulations, they are 96.
It’s an icy night in Cape Town when Spotlight visits the site. Looking out the window, Pillay says he and most homeless people would tremble bloodlessly on the shelter streets.
Supporting shelters for the homeless
Badroodien says the city has no direct role, or even supervises, in the creation and control of shelters.
“That said, we paint in partnership with NGOs that manage shelters and provide budget and resources when possible, especially in winter, when demand for shelter expands due to bad weather. So far, in this fiscal year, we’ve spent 50 million Rand on organizations operating with vulnerable groups, adding other people on the street,” he says.
“Cash will be used to develop the additional capacity that organizations deserve for at least six months. The City has also established safe spaces that serve as shelters for other people who sleep on the streets,” says Badroodien.
The City operates through a “Aid Grant” (GIA) policy, which is a procedure that allows the council to identify organizations to supply on behalf of the city.
Who helps keep an eye on help?
Badroodien says all organizations funded under GIA policy must provide monthly expense reports. “In addition, each shelter is visited at least once a month to stick to the paintings in progress. A separate assembly is held with the resident social painter to determine the prestige of each resident’s individual progress plan. The quality of Food Supply is also evaluated to ensure that the criteria required by the City are maintained,” he said.
She explains that the city of Cape Town is concerned about conditioning and hygiene protocols for independently controlled shelters.
“As was said, in our safe spaces, we make daily projections. We have also implemented social distance protocols, resulting in a decrease in overall capacity, and we have made soap, mask and disinfectants on sites to ensure that occupants can stay at fitness and hygiene protocols to mitigate the threat of exposure to Covid-19.” he explains. “We have financed the procurement of sanitary packages and cleaning equipment as a component of humanitarian aid.”
In a joint reaction from Western Cape’s Departments of Social Development and Health, DSD spokeswoman Esther Lewis told Spotlight that departments had provided PPE to shelters and continue to do so.
“The EPI includes disinfectants and facial screens. The DSD does not own or manage shelters. According to Lewis, there are also social workers in shelters who provide individual counseling, counselling and support.
What about the water?
In response to the lack of hot water in Culemborg, Badroodien’s head of control, Pierre Gertenbach, said they were aware of the considerations and that “the matter would be resolved in due course.”
Carlos Mesquitta, a spokesman for the defenders’ advocacy organization, the Homeless Action Committee, says they are one of the demanding situations homeless in some of the city’s shelters.
“The fact that other people do not have hot water to bathe in and have to wear buckets is a violation of their human dignity,” Mesquitta says, adding that there is still a long way to go before the “true” disorders that others are homeless. you can address the people of Cape Town.
“It’s not about the Covid-19 pandemic and feeling sorry for them. The government will have to find a solution to the demanding situations homeless face after the Covid-19 pandemic. They are also human beings and want to be heard and to enforce their human rights. »
The Haven: caseless
At the Haven Night Refuge in Woodstock, he is another and less crowded than at the Culemborg site. Isaac Hendricks, who works as a service manager at the shelter, says they can accommodate 90 homeless people.
Hendricks is proud of the fact that they have still filed a positive case for Covid-19 since the start of the blockade.
Working with doH and DSD, they are linked to Covid-19 measurements.
“We do our thing to stick to the rules, and I have to say that we have the possibility to paint with homeless people who are very disciplined and grateful to have food and a roof over their heads,” he says.
The Haven Night Shelter is one of the shelters funded through Cape Town.
Since the beginning of the lockdown, Howard Ishmail, 75, has been staying in Haven.
“We wear our mask all the time and social distance. Life is much bigger here,” he says.
Will it be sustainable?
As the country moves to block two points from August 18, the city of Cape Town has said it has no plans to demolish Culemborg’s shelter. Instead, he plans to make it permanent for the homeless.
A spokesman for the city’s homeless company committee, Ncumisa Mahangu, said that “his wish is that it can be moved to a permanent residence.”
“A resolution will be taken after the closure on how more homeless people can stay in the shelter,” Mahangu says.
For other homeless people like Shaun Julies, it’s a relief to hear that there are plans in progress.
“Of course, the remedy here (Culemborg) is not five stars, but it is better than living on the street. I’ll be satisfied if you can make it our permanent residence,” Julies says.
But while some answers are being discovered in local and municipal points, it turns out that there is little direction or assistance from the national point. Recently, Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu, in reaction to a parliamentary question, admitted that “lately there is no clarity on the national point in relation to the main branch for the homeless.”
Zulu said that in provinces like Gauteng, there is no express budget in the DSD for the homeless, and there are no express social staff assigned to paintings with homeless people, those who use shelters. There is also no consolidated official register of homeless people outdoors, the sign that individual shelters regularly maintain. DM/MC
This article was produced through Spotlight – Health Journalism in the Public Interest. Subscribe to our newsletter.
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