Homeless People To Pay For Sleeping On The Street In Cape Town. Sleeping on the streets has been hard on homeless people, now they have to pay for sleeping on the pavement.
Sleeping on the streets has been hard on homeless people, now they have to pay for sleeping on the pavement. The homeless people were given penalties for “obstructing pedestrian traffic on sidewalks” and also for other infringements that they have done in Cape Town. The City of Cape Town told News24 that they have been swamped with complaints from people living in different places about the breach of some of the by-laws.
The by-law that most people talk about is the one relating to public spaces, streets and the prevention of noise nuisances. The by-law forbids people from sleeping, building shelter, or camping throughout the night at a place where they are not allowed to. The by-law also forbids anyone from blocking the pedestrian traffic on the pavement or from leaving any products at a public space. Wayne Dyason, law enforcement spokesperson, says they have dealt with some of the people that have infringed the by-law.
The law enforcement spokesperson says, “In many cases, guys go out and quite a few homeless people are putting up structures, obstructing pavements and lighting fires. That’s what we deal with.” Wayne Dyason says they are not targeting the homeless people, they are just practicing the provisions of the by-law. The people who light a fire in a public area are given a penalty of up to R1500. Blocking the pedestrian traffic at a pavement with any object or any car is a penalty of up to R300.
Littering on the streets will get a person a fine of up to R500 due to the terms of the Integrated Waste Management Plan by-law. Michael Jackson was one of the o people who was allegedly given a fine between R200 and R800 for sleeping at Adderley Street. He told Die Son that he isn’t able to pay for the R200 fine as he was struggling to find food and a place to sleep in. GroundUp said in 2017 that the City of Cape Town was trying to find a new way of dealing with the homeless who lived on the streets.
by Alexandra Ramaite
