CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA OCTOBER 15: City of Cape Town mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith during a media briefing to address concerns around the Fire and Rescue Services on October 15, 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa. Responding to demands from the trade unions that firefighters allowance be increased to almost 80%, Smith reiterated that the council simply could not afford to pay more than double the current allowance agreed upon in 2007. (Photo by Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Adrian de Kock)
JP Smith: “Being homeless in Cape Town is profitable for some”
JP Smith did not hold back his feelings about the apparent truth we did not know about being poor and homeless in Cape Town.
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA OCTOBER 15: City of Cape Town mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith during a media briefing to address concerns around the Fire and Rescue Services on October 15, 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa. Responding to demands from the trade unions that firefighters allowance be increased to almost 80%, Smith reiterated that the council simply could not afford to pay more than double the current allowance agreed upon in 2007. (Photo by Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Adrian de Kock)
JP Smith has come under fire for his recent comments about homeless people in Cape Town.
The City of Cape Town’s mayco member for safety and security paid Kieno Kammmies from Radio 702 a visit to talk, at length, about the current controversy that surrounds the provincial government in how it is dealing with homeless people.
JP Smith faces backlash for ‘poor people’ comments
A new set of bylaws that have effectively criminalised the status of being ‘poor and homeless’ have divided the city.
While some believe that this is a necessary step in achieving the City’s ‘extensive social development programme’, others hold the view that being poor cannot be a considered a crime punishable by fines and/or prosecution.
Smith, however, offered an alternative perspective. In his interview, the City’s mayco member stated that not all poor people living in the streets were actually poor.
In fact, some have found it to be quite profitable to beg for change for a living.
JP Smith says “Poor people who live on the streets in Cape Town are not all poor. It’s very profitable for some to live on there. So these fines are set to address them being there”…. #PoorFines
— Bonga Dlulane (@BongaDlulane) July 3, 2019
???
#PoorFines JP Smith says “you can’t continue to ignore people breaking by laws because our streets are becoming unliveable”….
— Bonga Dlulane (@BongaDlulane) July 3, 2019
Won’t answer how many people have actually paid these fines. Over 190 of them issued.
Smith revealed in the interview that this stringent approach to end the spread of homeless people in the Mother City was in line with the Streets and Public Places set of bylaws which were enacted to heighten safety.
What are Cape Town’s Streets and Public Places bylaws?
According to this set of bylaws, it is prohibited for persons to:
- intentionally block or interfere with the safe or free passage of a pedestrian or motor vehicle;
- intentionally touch or cause physical contact with another person, or his or her property, without that person’s consent;
- continue to beg from a person or closely follow a person after the person has given a negative response to such begging;
- sleep overnight or camp overnight or erect any shelter, unless in an area designated for this purpose by, or with the written consent of the City, provided that this shall not apply to cultural initiation ceremonies or informal settlements.
We contacted Smith to get comments on his comments and we had not received a response to the posed questions by the time of publication of this article.
