Daily Sun (July 16 2014) - MUNICIPALITIES keep trying to clear hobos off the streets and out of the parks . . .But the heavy-handed approach of the eThekwini Municipality has angered hobos as well as local residents. LOADING THE MEN ONTO TRUCKS AND DUMPING THEM IN SURROUNDING VILLAGES IS NOT THE ANSWER, THEY SAY!
On Monday, furious residents of Umbumbulu, south of Durban, woke up to nearly 50 scruffy-looking men fidgeting and scratching their bums at the gate of the area's cop shop. It seems eThekwini Municipality decided to load the hobos onto trucks during the night and dump them in different parts of the province.
Umbumbulu councillor, Godfrey Maphumulo, said the police phoned him in the morning.
"I rushed to the cop shop. When I got there, I found the men shivering in the cold," he said.
"One of them had collapsed and I was told he suffered from epilepsy. I took him to the clinic and bought the others breakfast."
Godfrey said residents are very angry.
"These hobos are troublesome and the cops know that. How could they bring them here to trouble us? I'm not against their idea of cleaning up the city but they should come up with better ideas.
"These people have been bothering everyone in the city. We don't want the same trouble here. We have never seen such a thing in our area. There are no hobos here," said Godfrey.
Local induna Mandlakayise Makhanya said: "The municipality should dump them somewhere else. We don't have people who roam the streets here and these people are going to be a bad influence on our children."
The hobos told Daily Sun they had been dumped by the Durban Metro cops and had run to the police station for safety.
Mduduzi Sithole (38) said they were watching the World Cup
final through a shop window when the cops came and started beating them up and loading in trucks.
"They forced us in the trucks. They wouldn't even let us finish watching the game.
"They confiscated all we had in our pockets.
"When I asked them to give my money back they said they were taking it to ensure that I didn't catch a taxi and come back to the city to bother them again.
"But I promise you, we are going to take shortcuts and walk back to the city. We're not animals or dirt that they can just throw away and forget about. There's no life for us here. We belong in Durban," said Mduduzi.
Municipal spokesman Thabo Mofokeng said: "We usually interview hobos to find out where they are from and then transport them there."
Yesterday, Councillor Maphumulo informed the SunTeam that Umbumbulu cops had taken the hobos back to Durban central on Monday.
See the Daily Sun mobi site for more on this and other stories....
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