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- District Six associations marched to object to a proposed homeless shelter.
- They want the Tafelberg crèche site to be used for a community centre instead.
- Silvertree Rugby Football Club lost its lease on the site during apartheid, and would like to return.
District Six residents opposed to the creation of a shelter for homeless people on the site of a former crèche gathered outside the Western Cape provincial offices on Friday, 14 July. They want the Tafelberg crèche site to be converted into a community centre instead.
The Silvertree Rugby Football Club, District Civic Association, Upper District Six Neighbourhood Watch and the District Six Advocacy Committee were all signatories to a memorandum delivered to the provincial government offices in Wale Street.
The provincial government said in March the Robbie Nurock Day Hospital, which had been earmarked for a homeless shelter, was found to be unsuitable due to asbestos. A new site was identified at the old Tafelberg crèche in Constitution Street, Zonnebloem, and R18 million was set aside for the project.
Rashied Combrink, the president of Silvertree, said the club, established in 1954, had lost its lease on the site during the Group Areas Act, and wanted to return.
"We're still running, and fielding three teams every week. We are not against homeless shelters, but we want to come back."
READ | Having withstood apartheid removals, District Six families fight eviction by new owner
He said the Anglican Church had started the Silvertree Boys Club, which later became the Silvertree Rugby Football Club.
"It was run as a community centre, not just for rugby. That is where the children were kept busy."
Shahnaz Arnold, a member of the District Six Civic Association, told GroundUp they were not against homeless shelters, but there was a great need for recreational spaces in the historic suburb.
"There are no facilities for the children to play. They are growing up and standing on corners, because they don't know what to do with themselves," said Arnold.
Tania Kleinhans, of the District Six Advocacy Committee, said the government had lost the political will to address homelessness.
She said homeless people should be placed with their families.
She added that shelters were temporary and did not address the causes of the issues involved in homelessness.
She said:
She supported the proposal to have the old Tafelberg crèche turned into a community centre.
Ronald Bantom, a former headmaster who attended the picket, said: "People are not against homeless people. Build shelters for homeless people, but there are many other pieces of vacant land that you can use. Why this particular land, where we know that people have been removed from that land?"
The DA councillor for Ward 77, Francine Higham, said she would ask the provincial government to facilitate a public participation process on the matter.
Monique Mortlock-Malgas, the spokesperson for Social Development MEC Sharna Fernandez, said the public had been invited to comment in June and the process had ended on 14 July.
All inputs would be taken into consideration before a final decision was made, she said.
She said the former Tafelberg crèche had been identified as an appropriate site due to the high number of people living on the street in the vicinity.
"This site proved to be most suitable in providing sufficient internal and external space in a more suitable arrangement to remodel as a shelter, all within close proximity to the Cape Town city centre and existing shelter services," said Mortlock-Malgas.
Earlier this year, Fernandez said R31 million had been transferred to 37 shelters for homeless adults in the current financial year.
The number of funded bed spaces had increased from 1 500 in 2020 to nearly 2 400 this year.
