EThekwini faces backlash over last-minute invites to homeless workshop

The Denis Hurley Centre, the largest NGO working with homeless people in the city and convenor of the Durban Homeless Forum, only received the invite the City’s workshop the afternoon before the event. Archive photo: Nokulunga Majola

• An eThekwini Municipality workshop has raised eyebrows ahead of a national homelessness meeting.
• The City has been slammed as having a “disrespectful” approach to homelessness in the way it convened its workshop.
• The Denis Hurley Centre, the largest NGO working with homeless people in the city, only received an invite the afternoon before the event.

The eThekwini Municipality came in for a drubbing this week after a last-minute invitation to stakeholders to attend a workshop to address bylaws on homelessness.

The municipal workshop is on the eve of a national homeless meeting arranged by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Durban next week.

Raymond Perrier heads up the Denis Hurley Centre, the largest NGO working with homeless people in eThekwini and convenor of the Durban Homeless Forum. He said he received an invite to a city regeneration workshop “towards an improved enforcement approach to homelessness” on Tuesday at 4:30pm.

According to the City’s invite, the two-day gathering was to begin on Wednesday at 8:30am.

It was meant to “focus on developing effective bylaws to regulate public conduct, particularly concerning issues related to homelessness”.

The City said the workshop aimed to bring together senior officials, legal experts and stakeholders to create solutions that balance public safety with individual rights.

Perrier said the invite was a “sop to inclusivity and disrespectful” to stakeholders and homeless people.

“The City claims they involve various stakeholders and are looking for solutions. This looks positive, especially compared to previous bylaws created by the municipality, such as the one that makes it illegal for homeless people to use the public showers on the beachfront or the bylaw against public urination in a city whose toilets close at 5pm.

“But it frames the homelessness issue as a problem to be dealt with by legislation and judicial matters. It doesn’t give homeless people a voice by inviting them to the event. It assumes there isn’t a civil society voice, or it doesn’t matter what we have to say.”

Anne Slatter, the General Manager of iCare, formed in 2002 to help children living on the streets, endorsed Perrier’s comments.

She was a member of the City’s homeless task team, which included representatives from the City and NGOs.

“The City doesn’t have a clear-cut plan for homelessness. They have been working on the issue for a long time but have repeatedly dropped the ball, which has irritated stakeholders. Some plans look promising, but much time and money have been wasted on the issue.”

EThekwini municipal spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said the relevant unit is focusing on the workshop and is unfortunately not in the office to attend to media questions.

“The requested information will only be available next week once they have compiled the post-event report, including reflections on any issues/concerns raised, attendance register, resolutions etc. We will follow up with the officials next week and revert once we have received the information.”

Perrier said a National Conversation about Homelessness at the Denis Hurley Centre in Durban next week would include representatives from NGOs, government officials and “a substantial number of homeless women and men”.

It is the 8th annual meeting of its kind and will consider a range of policy and practical issues relating to homelessness.

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