Schubart Park evacuees coverage - Pat Finlay

Pat Finlay is an Honours student in Psychology at Unisa. She also happens to live close to where the displaced residents of Schubart Park in Pretoria have been moved to.

Pat has sent us a summary of her observations of the situation there and we'll also post any additional information she provides.

Her summary follows after the break.

"Regarding the Schubart Park evacuees, I would like to post an update.

I have been seeking out various stakeholders in an effort to establish exactly what the current situation is as well as any future plans. This would also contribute towards establishing the real needs of the people. I have also met with a member of the representative committee of the evacuees.

The information below has been gleaned from the discussions with the various stakeholders, whom I believe are reliable sources of information, even though I have not yet verified the information. I could supply a list of references if necessary.

Some Afrikaans churches have been accommodating the women and children in their halls and have appealed to the communities to offer temporary residence to them. The men have been taking care of their goods on the street outside the derelict building and sleeping there, in rain and shine, for 11 nights now. Sadly, many have lost belongings to the looters who have taken advantage of the situation. I haven’t been able to establish whether sufficient accommodation has been found for all the evacuees yet.

Some other organisations have also become involved, while others are reluctant to do so. Lawyers for Human Rights are rendering their assistance (http://www.lhr.org.za/news/2011/schubart-park-residents-spend-weekend-streets-despite-city%E2%80%99s-promises), which the residents really appreciate.

The “new” community near me have been screened according to various criteria, for example, they must have resided in Schubart Park for more than 5 years and must constitute a family unit.

The building is privately owned and has been vacant for several months now. It has been refurbished: it consists of are a number of bachelor units as well as some one and two bedroomed units. Although the rooms are very small, the residents have expressed their appreciation of having somewhere to live. The municipality of Tshwane has apparently paid the rent for 3 months on behalf of the new residents (the registered, qualifying evacuees). The residents have had to purchase electricity meters for their units from the letting agent, which will allow them to control their usage of, and payment for, electricity. The letting agent has also installed a fingerprint detection device at the main gate, while additional security has also been arranged.  

Food parcels have been handed out (I believe, one meal a day), but apparently more help is needed here. It is gratifying to see that municipal officials have shown compassion. For example, the other night, when a baby continued to cry from hunger (the mother and child were still in the queue to register for accommodation at around 10pm) an official gave the mother some food for the baby.

Incidentally, some mothers queued till very late at night, while some even remained on the pavement with their children till the next day.

Social workers have been interviewing each family as they have been granted permission to move into their new accommodation. I will be meeting with one of the social workers soon.

According to one of the residents, many are employed and their economic status is varied, that is, not all the evacuees fall into the sub economic sector. This was also evident by the quality of furniture and belongings being carried into the building.

This has been a very traumatic experience for the evacuees. However, it appears that they have endured prolonged tension as a result of the previous degradation of the Schubart Park community over the years.

While other groups of evacuees still need much assistance, the group referred to above, will be regrouping and having to build a “new community”.  Since their immediate physical needs are being met (many are still moving in), the families still need to cope with the effects of this traumatic period in their lives.  

Thank you for your support!

Pat

NOTE

When I took photos of some of the children, they hid away and then asked me why I had taken the photos. They were obviously sensitive about this. When I said that I wanted to visit them and talk to them one day, their faces lit up and we parted with an exchange of “thumbs up”. A member of the representative committee introduced me to the chairman and will be notifying the community that they are comfortable with me being around.

A thought regarding the appeal to exercise one’s rights in terms of The Constitution raises the question as to the extent to which one can demand such rights."