Community

More Shelters are needed in the CBD

Johannesburg Central Business District (CBD) has more than 6000 people that are displaced; that on it’s on is a crisis. Those who are working tireless about this crisis are saying that this is a result of lack of shelters in the City and social problems that people found themselves in.

The City of Johannesburg’s Social Department has a unit that is dedicated in solving the problems that are faced by displaced people. They have a facility called Governor’s House that caters for homeless people in Braamfontein
“Our mandate is to assist people leaving and working on the street with the idea in decreasing the number. Our focus is on people that are sleeping on the pavements, however those who are evicted from their flats are an exclusion from our policy,” said Kebonye Senna, from Governor’s house.
The facilities have showers which displaced people can use and washing basin that they can also use to wash their clothes. They also help them with counselling through the help of social workers who are always at the centers.

“What happens here is that they are able to take a shower, and wash their clothes. Occasionally when we have enough we give them a meal while they are waiting for their clothes to dry,” said Senna. “They are registered on daily basis, we need to know how many people are using the facility so that we can plan ahead.”
“We also teach the displaced people about personal hygiene, sometimes they go out looking for employment and their personal hygiene is very poor. Immediately, as they turn their backs their CVs are torn, sometimes it’s not written properly,” she added.

Zane Gordon who is a qualified boiler maker has been living in the street on and off due to the fact that his contracts end and there after it becomes difficult for him to apply for a new job because he doesn’t have a Curriculum Vitae (CV).
“It’s through the organisations here in the city that I have managed to equip myself with a boiler making skill. You see what happens with me it’s up and down. The jobs that I usually get are contract based,” said Gordon.
Gordon is currently looking for a job and he said that, it is through facilities like the Governor’s house that he can prepare himself for an interview.
“It is not easy to look for a job. When you are looking for a job you have to try to keep yourself clean and you have to maintain that,” he said. “And in the street you just keep on losing your personal belongings like ID document, and looking for a job without those kinds of documents is difficult.”

During the day Gordon is a car guard in Braamfontein and through that he has found a way of surviving.
“There are more challenges that we are facing in the streets, most of the people they just look at it in one direction,” said Gordon.
There are stereotypes about people who are living in the streets. Sometimes people see them as lazy, drug addicts and alcoholics.

Muzi Jojo on the other hand has been trying to apply for his grant money since 2015, and since that time he hasn’t received his card.
“I have gone several times to the SASSA offices to apply for my grant but I have never been helped. I have my ID card and documents that support that I deserve a government grant,”said Jojo
Born in the Eastern Cape, Jojo has been in Johannesburg since 2013. He has been in Johannesburg alone without a family. Through interacting with other displaced people he has found refuge here on the streets of Johannesburg.
When we went to the SASSA offices, we didn’t manage to get the help for this young man.
“I want to be helped, I am human too, I want my life to be better. I will not rest until my case is solved,” concluded Jojo.

2 thoughts on “More Shelters are needed in the CBD

  • inner city gazzert journalist they are with no job to do i can tell the world direct from what is from my mouth is article , chronological accurate polite speech from real Muzi Jojo , to tell peoples paper the story about shelters are all this south African government building offices because they all go to be more than any foreign person on ran , for all south African government workers there work performance during the period of duty they fight against the pure Concorde government , and they forget that they work government . as long as all what have i see against me from the act off army i will take over by my own SA business army which it will obtain a passive effect in the public Amen ……

    Reply
    • do not judge by its own color

      Reply

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