The Unexpected Dignity of Cape Town’s Homeless

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The homeless situation was one of the two things people told me about South Africa, when I decided to go. (The other one, was the recurring ‘load shedding’. I even downloaded an app that tells you the load shedding schedule as part of my travel preparation, but thankfully no load shedding happened during my trip.)

There will be homeless people everywhere, they said. But the Western Cape was the ‘last good part’ of South Africa, so maybe it wouldn’t be as dangerous in Cape Town, went the verdict.

I admit that I was apprehensive by these remarks. But then again, I reminded myself that I’ve gone to places my fellow upper middle class corporate colleagues would have considered ‘too dangerous’ to go to, and found them alright after all. Surely, Cape Town couldn’t be any worse. So I prepared myself mentally, and then stopped worrying.

How bad is the homeless situation in Cape Town?

The taxi driver from the airport cautioned me not to walk around at night, when he dropped me off in Bo-Kaap. The manager of Amina Hotel told me much the same, explaining that gangs from outside the neighbourhood were known to come then. Houses have been burgled¹, he said.

To be fair, the homelessness problem isn’t overstated. It really is quite obvious in Cape Town. In fact, on my first day walking down to the City Bowl, I passed by homeless people near the traffic lights. Later, I saw a whole encampment by the walls of the Castle of Good Hope.

As I crossed the road, a homeless man approached me. I braced for the expected begging, remembering how it was in India. But his first words were unexpected.

“Howzit sister, do you have any food?”

Homeless, but confident?

I paused, and blinked at his tone. It didn’t match my previous experience of homeless people, for he didn’t sound abject. In fact, he spoke almost as if asking a neighbour, frank and direct.

The green pedestrian light was likewise blinking, rushing me. I thought of the cake that I left uneaten at breakfast, and immediately regretted not taking it after all. Not having any food with me, I shook my head and went on my way. His eyes briefly seemed disappointed, but he also moved on.

Needless to say, from that first encounter, I began making it a habit to pack what I couldn’t finish at breakfast, in case I’m asked again. I did the same for restaurant leftovers. And because of this, I broke my zero waste habit in Cape Town, opting for the restaurant’s takeaway box rather than use my own container.

The man in the soup kitchen line

My first encounter wasn’t an anomaly. I was asked nearly every day, but always politely. Even when they seemed very hungry, they were always courteous both when I had food, and when I did not. Surprisingly, I was never asked for money, only food.

And I was always ‘sister’. I wonder if that’s typical for everyone, or whether it’s because I look like a Cape Malay. I wonder if they thought I might be Capetonian.

It wasn’t just food that wasn’t ‘safe’, but drinks too! Mariam’s Kitchen in the Foreshore area faces an open space. There was an orderly line of homeless people gathering patiently as I was having lunch. Before long, I saw why. A mobile soup kitchen dispensed food as I watched from inside the restaurant.

When I came out, I had half a can of soft drink with me. I went no more than a few steps when a man bounded out of the line towards me, with a cheerful greeting. “Sister, how are you? May I have a sip?” And I couldn’t help but find his optimism infectious. So I gave him the whole can.

Indeed, they were getting sandwiches, but not drinks. He happily returned to his place in the line with his prize.

Why Cape Town felt safe anyway

It took a day or two, but I soon realised that the presence of homeless people in Cape Town did not worry me. Not that they normally do, anyway. My own city of Kuala Lumpur has homeless people, after all, though not nearly so many.

Perhaps it was because the city itself generally looked neat. It’s not the same vibe as many homeless people in a gritty city.

There were auxiliary police stationed in the more touristy parts of the city. I was told they’re there to ensure that tourists were not harassed. Once or twice, when a homeless person approached me, out of the corner of my eye I could see them watch us, though they did not come over if they didn’t think I looked distressed.

The Secret Love Project

Perhaps another reason is that Cape Town’s homeless aren’t completely abandoned².

I don’t mean that they aren’t neglected; otherwise, surely the problem wouldn’t be so large. There are between 4,000 to 14,000 people living on the streets of Cape Town³.

But at the same time, arguably there seems to be more people striving to help them, than in many places with a homelessness problem. Beyond the city’s own efforts, there are also NGOs and activists who try to close the rips in the weak safety net.

Perhaps there is a tacit sense that the problem is structural, and kind of downstream to apartheid re-development of segregated cities and neighbourhoods. It doesn’t take a genius to see how that would mess up economic structure. Perhaps the problem is thus seen as a somewhat shared issue, at least compared to other places.

I discovered that this effort included urban art projects. A homeless man approached me one day, but he did not ask for food. Instead, he introduced himself as Christian, and asked if I would buy some heart stickers. The Secret Love Project hands them out to the homeless for free, and they could sell them to earn some money. I gathered that the idea was to encourage the sharing of love in the world⁴.

I guess, these create positive interactions with the homeless. And maybe, while it doesn’t solve their housing problem, it helps to maintain a sense of belonging.

Homeless, but still part of society?

Of course, my observations are only a snapshot. But what I remember the most about Cape Town’s homeless is the way they come across like they belong. Usually, the body language is that of someone excluded from society, of disconnection, and maybe shame. There is no room for them to participate.

But I was approached by homeless people on most days in Cape Town, and they did so like they were no different from anyone else.

One amusing encounter in particular underscored this peculiarity. One day, I waited for the light to change at a pedestrian crossing. An old homeless man with a cane waited on the opposite side. Seeing the vehicle light turn yellow, he prepared to cross.

Suddenly, a car came up fast, intending to run the yellow light, and was forced to brake hard because the light had turned red and the old man was already crossing.

Now, I had expected him to simply continue to cross. But no. The old homeless uncle stopped before the car and began scolding the young man at the wheel, as if he were chastising the neighbour’s boy he had helped to raise.

“Stop at yellow!” he scolded. “Go at green. Red,” he continued, raising his walking stick to point at me across the road, “is for her to cross.”

Amazingly, the driver reacted with contrition, accepting the scolding meekly.

The image stuck with me. Of course, as an Asian, I understood the concept of treating elders and youth as one’s own, even with no family ties. But Cape Town is maybe the only place where that still applies, even if the elder person were homeless.

Footnotes:

1. The Bo-Kaap neighbourhood says that the gangs are not only from outside the neighbourhood, but are also not South African. The uncle at Bismiellah restaurant told me that many Africans from other countries came to South Africa during the Jacob Zuma presidency. He promised them jobs in the ‘land of milk and honey’, he said wryly, but it wasn’t true. So, some of the homeless are these migrants and not local Capetonians. Having come all the way, they could not afford to go back. And without work, some turn to crime such as breaking into houses. ↩︎
2. Gilili, C. (2024, July 8). City of Cape Town to remove homeless people from city centre. Elitsha. https://elitshanews.org.za/2024/07/08/city-of-cape-town-to-remove-homeless-people-from-city-centre/ ↩︎
3. Bolland, R. (2022, August 16). Understanding Homelessness in Cape Town. Medium. https://medium.com/@richardbolland01/understanding-homelessness-in-cape-town-5e989ccc55d7 ↩︎
4. This means that the sale transaction isn’t the only point. So if you’re approached by a homeless person selling Secret Love Project stickers, try to make time to have a short conversation about it. ↩︎

Carbon offset information to Cape Town, South Africa

A return flight between Kuala Lumpur and Cape Town via Dubai produces carbon emissions of approximately 5,987 lbs CO2e. It costs about $48 to offset this. 

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