[imagesource: Office of Councillor Zahid Badroodien]

For a number of South Africans, lockdown means staying inside their homes, with internet, electricity, and running water to wait out the 21 days of extreme physical distancing.

Social media has been awash with posts about Netflix shows, new hobbies, and other creative ways of staying occupied. 

For a large number of citizens, however, staying indoors isn’t really an option. Concerns were raised early on about how the homeless would self-isolate with no homes to self-isolate in.

The City of Cape Town has been accused of mistreating the homeless in the past, so naturally, trust isn’t easy to earn, even under these unprecedented circumstances.

Regardless, hundreds of homeless people were taken by bus to two locations in Cape Town, where they will be housed until the lockdown is over.

News24 took a look at the first location under the Nelson Mandela Boulevard overpass on the Foreshore, which opened last Sunday (March 29):

More interviews with happy and unhappy occupants:

The second location, and the new ‘homeless village’, is at the Strandfontein Sports Complex, which was chosen because of its proximity to electricity and water.

News24 notes that it has the space to house more people than the CBD tent village.

The full Strandfontein Sports Complex measured 240 000 square metres, and six large marquees had been erected over the weekend.

Under normal circumstances, each was able to accommodate around 600 people. But due to physical distancing requirements, each would only accommodate 300-360 people.

This video was shot in the day before the homeless arrived, showing a race against time:

You can see more pictures of the site below:

The site is equipped with toilets, showers, a small shop, isolation tent, and medical services. It is being strictly monitored by private security, metro police, and law enforcement officers.

More sites will be identified as officials race to erect structures that will house the homeless.

[source:news24&news24]