Severe weather increases homelessness in several provinces

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Severe weather conditions have increased homelessness in several provinces, including the Western Cape, Free State, Eastern Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal.

The cold front has created an urgent need for shelters to provide refuge for those affected.

In response, the City of Cape Town has partnered with U-Turn Homeless Ministries to offer temporary safe spaces for the homeless.

Valery Govender of the Ministries says they are able to provide only for 3500 homeless people.

“Well of course the storms have resulted in inundation of calls from U-Turn to try and help in terms of safe spaces which is why the organisation decided to open temporary emergency safe spaces for those who are in urgent need. As a result of the storm, to be honest, there are approximately 1400 if not more in our City at the moment and roughly just over 3 500 shelter spaces so already there is a need for shelter spaces in the City, and with this effect of the storm we know that there is going to be a need for more shelter.”

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Need for shelters

Additionally, the devastating cold front has left numerous individuals displaced in Bloemfontein, necessitating urgent assistance.

However, Rev De la Harpe le Roux of the Towers of Hope has accused the Free State government of lagging behind in providing aid to those in need, despite the dire situation.

“No relationship, no funding in any way I mean if I can just hear what’s happening in the Western Cape you know it’s a different continent. In the Western Cape, it’s not like the Free State, you know. In the Covid times, the government had to open some shelters. I can tell you how their shelters were, you know, not properly run. I mean, the social development people under middle management, they tried their best, but they seemed not to care about the plight of the homeless in the province.”

More rain forecast for Western Cape:

City of Cape Town Disaster Risk Management spokesperson Mandy Thomas says for the rest of the week they will continue to monitor and assess flood and wind damage due to inclement weather.

She says the City is appealing for donations to effectively manage the situation and mitigate the impact. This follows persistent rainfall and gale-force winds due to another cold front.

A level 8 weather warning has been put in place for Thursday in Cape Town.

Thomas says teams are out in full force.

“It’s across the city and our officials are doing the best that they can to unblock drains and let the allies free-flowing that kind of thing of thing so that the water can dissipate.”