Cape Town, South Africa – Carin Gelderbloem was awakened early in the morning by a large rock that fell on his tent. A group of high school students drank all day at Garden’s Company, down the street from the South African Parliament.
Now he was persecuting the homeless.
When Gelderbloem’s girlfriend, Rameez Kemp, came out to protest, he was beaten and beaten repeatedly. Colon hanging, he managed to get close to the entrance to the park. After losing a lot of blood, he was eventually taken by ambulance to a hospital in Somerset two hours later, near death.
After reporting on a police incident in Cape Town Central, Gelderbloem said officials told him it was their boyfriend’s fault for choosing to sleep first. This was October 2018 – one of the first to meet the city police.
“When you try to rule, you belong to David and they are Goliath,” he said. “They told us we had no rights.”
By telephone, Andre Trout, a spokesman for the South African Police Service in Cape Town, declined to comment to Al Jazeera. “When he is released, he has to report to the police. We don’t take such things lightly, ”he said.
During his nine years walking or going out on the street, 51-year-old Gelderbloem said police had confiscated clothing, sleeping bags, toothpicks and beads used to make gemstones. Occasionally, during the night, city officials reportedly remove cardboard and plastic sheets that they use for shelter from the weather.
Gelderbloem says incidents like this are often accompanied by flash floods. “He never spoke to me as a person of good character,” she said. “I ask them, ‘Do you talk to your mom like that?’ Do not think that this will never happen to you. Homelessness can happen to anyone in the blink of an eye. ”
The past rules, rooted in colonial times and “passing laws” sent by the Dutch and Britain to defeat the Indians, especially in the massacre of homeless people in South African cities. In Cape Town, those who sleep, sit or stand in public places are fined up to $ 2,000 in South Africa ($ 146). While these rules apply to everyone, they are particularly affecting the homeless who are often homeless. Changes to the law, which are being reviewed by the public, would allow law enforcement agencies to evict homeless people and detain them immediately if they refuse to relocate and take over tents.
In the United Kingdom, lawmakers are calling on the government to repeal the Vagrancy Act of 1824, which prohibits sleep deprivation. In Cape Town, Gelderbloem and 10 other homeless people are homeless and want to relocate.
In March, he filed two petitions – one in the Western Cape High Court and the other in the Equality Court – to challenge the law and its opposition. All of them have been fined for violating the rules and are testifying separately in their petitions and in Al Jazeera that they have ID cards, blankets and other items confiscated by the authorities. Since the case, the solicitor-general’s attorney said one of them claimed to be in possession of HIV drugs taken by police during a recent battle on Hope Street.
The petitioners are demanding the repeal of the ordinance and are seeking legal redress for $ 5,000 ($ 360) each, as well as legal apologies from city officials.
Cape Town homeless people say law enforcement officers regularly carry plastic sheets in their tents, giving them a cold winter night [Sindile Sydwell Kamlana/Al Jazeera]
Last week, the City of Cape Town posted on Facebook a number of councilors from the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party in South Africa that controls the Western Cape region, announcing it was preparing to protest against the bill.
“Law enforcement agencies have a responsibility to implement the law in a similar way, and to respond to hundreds of complaints every month about harassment, crime, and crime on the streets,” it noted.
“If everyone refuses to accept any treatment, then the city will provide better information and fines – legal procedures needed to comply with local laws.”
The city councilor from the Democratic Alliance also sent a large email, with a reference form to send complaints to the homeless in an attempt to settle their case.
Jonty Cogger, a lawyer for I Want to Know, a security agency representing the homeless, said the City’s actions were “unprofessional” and “similar to the cause of homelessness”.
“Asking for complaints from taxpayers, residents and businesses – the people who have the opportunity – is a dangerous and divisive legal process that can only exacerbate the vulnerability of street people and social oppression,” he added.
Gelderbloem, right, with his girlfriend, Rameez Kemp [Sindile Sydwell Kamlana/Al Jazeera]
In 2019, there were 4,862 homeless people living in Cape Town, according to Western Cape government figures.
A recent study released in November 2020 by three non-profit organizations, U-Turn, Khulisa Streetscapes and MES, states that the actual number will exceed 14,000.
JP Smith, a member of the city’s mayoral committee on security and safety, said there may have been a “double count” because several organizations had participated in his draft. He acknowledged that although the problem had “worsened”, following the first closure of coronavirus in the country last year. The NGO’s research was based solely on earlier research.
The three groups also expect the City of Cape Town to spend more than $ 335.2 million ($ 24.4m) on law enforcement and punishment for the homeless – with only $ 121.9 million ($ 8.9m) on development programs.
“That’s nonsense and it’s a clear indication of these statistics,” said Smith, who for some reason accuses the authors of handling legal fees as if they were only used to combat homelessness. In fact, this calculation of the amount spent on homelessness in the city was based on a survey of 350 homeless people, government reports, and interviews with officials.
Smith added that Cape Town had a generous right to homelessness in every city in South Africa and that similar laws were available around the world.
For Gelderbloem though, this is a no-brainer. “We have to win this case. The city needs to realize that homeless people are homeless, ”he said.
It may be several months before a verdict is handed down.
