ABOUT half a dozen vagrants have made the corner of Albert and Lansdowne roads their home, much to the dismay of locals who believe they plan to make this quiet corner of Lansdowne “a second Flamingo Crescent”.
Mattresses, blankets, trolleys and boxes of belongings are littered on the side barrier of the substation and residents say the area is “like a campsite” as the fairly young occupants sleep under the stars.
Various complaints, including around-the-clock noise, faeces on the pavement and public drunkenness since they settled in early in January, have been logged with the City of Cape Town but to date, the new locals are yet to be relocated.
Jaynunisa Fredericks says she is deeply embarrassed by her new neighbours.
“They have just settled down and decided that this will be their new spot. When I take my kids to school in the morning, they are up and about, drinking and airing their blankets in the street. I even saw one defecating on the corner about a week ago. Isn’t that public indecency?” she asks.
After she nearly knocked down a drunkard who had fallen from the pavement into the street, she decided that enough is enough.
“I gave him a real telling-off, and asked him what he was doing on my corner. He said the road doesn’t belong to me, and that this was going to be his new house. Is this some kind of land grab? No man, I won’t allow this in my backyard. We have to take Lansdowne back.”
Derrick Solomon, who walks down Albert Road daily en route to the station, says he is “lekker gatvol” of being harassed for money by the vagrants. “I first noticed them in Albert Road one morning in January, but I thought that perhaps they were trying to stop passers-by in search of a job. But when I started seeing mattresses appearing from nowhere, I phoned the council,” he explains.
“I was told that my complaint would be passed on to the relevant officials but nothing has happened yet. Where’s the service delivery I voted for? The municipality is allowing the bergies to take over Lansdowne!”
But neither are as angry as Edwin Davies, who informed the council about his new neighbours in January. “I noticed them on 6 January and after watching them for a while, I phoned the City’s hotline to report it on 12 January. Two days later, law enforcement came to assess the situation, and promised to be back the following Monday to remove their belongings. I am still waiting for that truck to arrive,” he says.
Davies continues that he is more upset by council’s “disinterest” in resolving the vagrancy issue in the area.
“We have to walk past this disgusting health hazard when we go to the shops or to the public transport routes. My granddaughter has to endure this mess and stench early in the morning on her way to school. It is totally unacceptable.”
Richard Bosman, the City’s executive director for Safety and Security, says law enforcement officers regularly remove, relocate or arrest vagrants in Lansdowne. “Unfortunately, most of them return to the area, or are replaced by other vagrants,” he explains.
Ward councillor Anthea Green says a clean-up of vagrant hotspots, including Albert Road, was planned for Friday, but owing to an altercation with a homeless person near Lansdowne station, the operation didn’t go according to plan.
“However, law enforcement did report to Albert Road on Sunday, where they completed the clean-up.”
When People’s Post pointed out that the journalist visited the site on Sunday evening and found everything as it was before, Green claimed it was “a perfect example of how the City cleans up and 15 minutes later the vagrants are back”.
Bosman adds that the Displaced People’s Unit and the Department of Social Development are in the process of developing an integrated approach to “address the social issues on the streets”, across the city.
tammy.petersen@peoplespost.co.za