THERE are foreigners among the thousands who live on the streets of Durban.
The Mayor of Thekwini Municipality, Mr. Cyril Xaba, revealed that there are also a number of Tanzanians, among the more than 16,000 people living on the street.
He said this while talking to the media, yesterday. Those who live on the streets have repeatedly threatened to be evicted.
The municipality came to evict them, but not even a week later, they started building booths to camp in.
Xaba said they will try to contact the Tanzanian embassy, so that those who want to go back will be sent home. He said they are trying to come up with a solution to the problem of those living on the street.
He pointed out that there is a center they are building that will shelter the homeless.
“There is a center that can accommodate 1,200 people that we are building. We will finish building this center at the end of the year. But this center is not enough as there are more than 16,000 people on the streets here in Durban.”
He urged the families to accept those who want to return home.
“What we are most happy about are those who say they want to go home. There are those who have come forward and said they want to go home. They said they have homes and they know they are wanted in their homes. They are asking us to connect them with their families. We have helped them to return home.”
Xaba also revealed that President Cyril Ramaphosa will officially present the symbols of the anti-apartheid government, Mr. Nelson Mandela, and Mr. Oliver Tambo.
The model presentation ceremony will be held on March 6. The models, worth R11 million each, will be in front of the city hall.
Xaba defended the use of R22 million in the construction of these 9 meter long models.
“I hear that people are complaining about the money that was used to build the models. I heard that people are comparing the money that was used when the models at the Union Buildings were built, with the money that we spent. The truth is that the models are the same height but they are not the same. “The one at the Union Buildings is 3.5 tons, the one we built is 8 tons. The one in Union Buildings was built in 2013, ours was built in 2021. The one at Union Buildings was built right here at home and ours was built in China. So there are a lot of things that people should look at.”
He said the visitors will really enjoy the models.