Homeless carted out of Cape Town and Johannesburg for World Cup

Homeless carted out of Cape Town and Johannesburg for World Cup

www.timesonline.co.uk

South African cities are planning to create “concentration camps” to house thousands of poor people well away from the football stadiums where next year’s World Cup will be staged, charities say.

Human rights groups in Cape Town and Johannesburg have expressed outrage at leaked plans to clear the streets of the homeless during the tournament. Councils in Johannesburg and Durban have told charities that street children and the destitute will be “compassionately” relocated out of city centres from next month.

(visit the link for the full news article)

The organizers of the world cup are demanding too much i think. To move thousands of homeless people outside of the city is a very sick plan IMO. The looks are more important for some of these people... Makes me sick... Instead of hosting the world cup, maybe they should start by helping their own people...

www.timesonline.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by lagenese


this if true is an outrage and pisses me off

they cant 'control' their criminals or corruption in government/police and they think they can control poor people by placing them in concentration camps? Another failure in making i say!

WC 2010 is going to be a bloodbath.

reply to post by raivo


Proposing concentration camps should be considered a crime against humanity.
The concentration camps "disease" will spread very quickly unfortunately. The middle class is almost wiped out.
The system of "class" has to go. We are all equal in spirit. It should be the same here on planet Earth.

Cool.

Since they're homeless, one place is as good as another.

They're planning to do the same thing here in Vancouver probably when the Olympics roll out under the guise of protecting them from the elements

From the article in the bolded text above:

VICTORIA — The British Columbia government hopes to have a law in place by early this winter allowing police, paramedics and other officials to forcibly move homeless people off the street during extreme weather, Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman said Monday.

Coleman said the idea began to take shape in January after the death of a homeless woman known as Tracey, who burned to death while trying to keep warm on the streets of Vancouver’s West End.

Coleman told reporters in Victoria the legislation is still being drafted, but vigorously dismissed the portion of a leaked internal document that said police would have the power to jail people if they are not accommodated at any shelters.

The article then goes on to state that the 'punitive elements' of the draft had been 'removed' because it had violated our Charter of Rights but...

Who knows?

reply to post by dooper


I think you are probably right. These really poor people do not have homes. They live on the pavements and they do have a hard live making their every day existence since they are mostly unemployed and probably haven't had a meal in a day or two. They sleep on mattresses which is normally just piled on heaps on the pavement. In Johannesburg inner city any way.

I think the term 'concentration camps' is bit harsh, just to cause controversy. I am fairly sure that at least, they will have toilet facilities and some food which they would not otherwise have had living on the streets. Believe me, they will not be kept in the 'concentration camps' for long afterward since it appear that the government does not like to spend too much money on the people anyway. I live in SA, I know.

reply to post by Louwey


I lived in Africa back in the 60's and i don't remember any stories like this. Times are changing... It would be interesting to see statistics on the homeless phenomena for the last 40 years...

reply to post by lagenese


Hey leganese
[Ex]
I lived in Africa back in the 60's and i don't remember any stories like this. Times are changing... It would be interesting to see statistics on the homeless phenomena for the last 40 years...[/Ex]

I do not trust statistics in SA any more for the past 20 years. I seriously doubt it.

I will be on the lookout, but seriously doubt any accurate statistics from government. It's not like it use to be in the sixties. Maybe 20 years ago it could have been accurate but I seriously doubt it now. South Africa's landscape is different. It is sad. If you come for the 2010 World Cup you will see what I mean.

It use to be one of the best, but lately its changed to Africa.

they are homeless, I dont know the reason for them being so for every single on of them.

But I dont see the problem of the govt moving them into housing and feeding them, they may not be on ave of their choosing but at least they will have shelter and food.


Another thing I never understood about homeless people is why any of them would stay in a northern (cold) environment, like new york or Boston. If I was homeless I would make my way down to Miami or south Florida in general, and then over into Cuba or Venezuela, who are communist for intents and purposes. There I could get more support.

Wow.

The irony in this is just, well, appalling. In 1991 SA was freed from apartheid by Nelson Mandela.

Apparently they just shifted their focus from racial segregation to economic...

On a side note, and don't take this the wrong way, this is rather amusing because of the recent summer blockbuster "District 9" by Neil Blomkamp (sp?) where aliens were segregated into "concentration camps" outside of the city.

Yet another instance of subtle cues from the mass media...

NEXUS

A month before Muhammad Ali fought George Foreman in Zaire , its dictator, Mobutu ,rounded up hundreds of alleged criminals , executing several of them.
The squatter camps along the road to the airport were cordoned off with large billboards which read something to the effect...

"Zaire : Where black power is a reality "


A close friend of mine works with a Tour Operator to South Africa , and some of the incidents she told me would make one shudder .
Of course these tourists had been seriously lacking in any common sense , but with a football world cup, and a hefty share of drunk fans no doubt ... its a recipe for disaster .

Bungling the homeless out of sight of the worlds media ...... the status quo resuming after the games . Its a quick fix that benefits no one in the long run.

reply to post by UmbraSumus


Quick fix... Yup, i agree totally. The "image" is more important than anything else. The so called leaders of that country don't care about the people. It's all BS politics and "the prestige"...
Politics, money, power... Plagues of our "society".

Originally posted by NoEXcUseS


Yet another instance of subtle cues from the mass media...

NEXUS

Yes, i remember that movie. Watched it not too long ago. It is true, they always let us know in advance what they're going to do next. I've seen many examples of this right here in some of the ATS threads.