Alongside the Homeless

I have seen the tickets that some of the homeless people I know have been issued by the council law enforcement - who have rousted them at night to charge them with various offences against municipal by-laws. One of the most poignant was the charge of "dumping/littering". Not that they were strewing rubbish around, but, presumably, because they themselves, wrapped in their blankets and cardboard against the chill, were the "litter". I know this particular person and this particular spot, and I know that come sunrise one would never know anyone had ever slept there - it is a clean-swept, sweet-smelling, ordinary bit of off-pavement property. Nobody was obstructed in walking on the pavement by their sleeping presence. But some official has called them trash, and fined them R500.

 

This seems very harsh. And it seems very harsh to unleash a major program of harassment of street people in the coldest part of the year. I have glanced through the applicable municipal legislation and it seems a strange mixture of draconian and discretionary. The city may choose to not apply the provisions of the legislation - which is an odd clause to have. And officials may, if they choose, prevent people from "standing, sitting and lying" in any place the officials might arbitrarily decide to want free from human beings. That seems to strike at the heart of the lot of what I do, and what any citizen does or might want to do in our city. If I lie on my pack in the park to look at the clouds (which I have been known to do :) )I would be in contravention of the by-law. Only it is then likely that the city would choose not to apply the by-law in that instance.

Anyway, so the world of the houseless is currently in turmoil, with some very vulnerable people feeling anxious and afraid. As a pastor and evangelist amongst this cadre of our urban population, I find it really difficult to understand what our city is hoping to achieve here. Are they hoping that with enough pressure the street people will simply disappear? Or migrate to less reputable areas of the city ? (I know that the houseless feel the need to sleep in more affluent suburbs not only for the sake of their livelihood, but also for safety - that's why so many sleep in the area around Claremont Police Station, which has achieved awards in the past for being the country's best-run police station.). And where can a person with psychiatric issues safely exist if not in some friendly shopkeeper's doorway? Everybody amongst the houseless urban poor agrees that fouling the environment, threatening and abusive behaviour, open prostitution, and the erection of permanent shelters should be curbed and controlled...but none of the people who have been fined for being rubbish that I know are guilty of any of these crimes. They quietly vanish in the early morning, and quietly return at night. And none of them block the pavements - I can take you for a walk at midnight  to see for yourself, if you like!

Fortunately we are not alone. There are hopeful moves afoot today, according to the Cape Times. Go Dingley & Marshall for instituting vigorous pro bono defense: John Wesley would have been proud of you! He used strategic lawsuits to good effect in similar circumstances in the 18th century!