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Begging and sleeping on the streets is illegal, and the City has begun a campaign to stop the problem, including opening shelters for the homeless.
A CAMPAIGN to stop the public from giving to people living on and begging in the streets of Joburg seeks to reduce the increasing number of beggars in the city.
The displaced persons unit in Johannesburg's human development department took to the streets on Friday, 21 August on a quest to stop people from giving money, food, clothes or blankets to people begging or sleeping in the open and on the pavements.
It will be an ongoing campaign
"We want the public to donate to non-governmental organisations [NGOs] or the government shelters instead," said Violet Modise, the unit's assistant director.
An ongoing campaign, it aims to cut the number of people begging on the streets. A survey done in June this year found that there were about 3 000 people living and working on inner city streets.
"We want to put them in shelters or reunite them with their families," she said.
Through this initiative, the department also wants to protect children who are used to beg.
Modise said many beggars used children. This could affect their development as they were often restricted to the adult beggar's back and did not have space to play.
The campaign is in line with the City's by-laws, which prohibit begging at intersections and sleeping on the pavements, in parks or any other public space.
Two shelters will be opened by the unit, in Hillbrow and Wimbley, in Turffontein, to house people who are taken off the streets. "The shelter in Hillbrow will house people from the age of 18 and the one in Wimbley will be for unaccompanied children," Modise explained.
They are due to be opened in September. The unit is also working with other shelters throughout the city to find ways that these people can be assisted, and it is working on programmes that will help the homeless.
"At the end of August we are meeting with people from different shelters to discuss programmes for the homeless," said Alen Grobbler, the assistant director for shelters in the displaced persons unit.
Joint operation
The decision to undertake this campaign was taken at a Joint Operations Committee meeting - the committee is made up of representatives from all City departments.
Departments that took part in the street campaign included human development, housing, arts and culture, and metro police
Departments that took part in the street campaign included human development, housing, arts and culture, and metro police. The South African Police Service also participated.
The government is not the only body involved in this initiative; support has also come from stakeholders such as the management of the Oriental Plaza in Fordsburg and McDonald's in Auckland Park.
"We are trying to form partnerships with different organisations. We need other role players in order to address this challenge of homelessness," Grobbler said at a meeting with Oriental Plaza representatives.
In response, the plaza's general manager, MH Patel, said: "Oriental Plaza will always be in support of the City. We need to understand that these people might be homeless but they are still human and so we want to help them in any way we can, even if it means we adopt these shelters."
The plaza has already donated blankets to the two shelters that are to open next month. "We thank [the plaza] for the support," said Dikeledi Mashego, who, until July, spearheaded the unit singlehandedly.
Staff and volunteers from human development and the other government departments handed out pamphlets at inner city intersections and inside Oriental Plaza. This campaign will continue in other parts of Joburg.
For more information contact the City's displaced persons unit on 011 022 4045 / 5430, the department of social development on 011 374 1600, or the Johannesburg Central police development office on 011 497 7000.
Donations can be dropped off at Governor's House, on the corner of Kotze Street and Queen Road, Hillbrow.
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