Image: Sebabatso Mosamo/Sunday Times
With a sea of tents as a backdrop, onlookers cheer as they watch the “skins” and the “shirts” engage in a soccer match. This is no regular match though — just a group of homeless people trying to entertain themselves while in lockdown at a temporary campsite in Pretoria.
These homeless people, who were initially placed at the Caledonian temporary camp, were happy to have been moved to the Lukas van den Berg sports ground in Pretoria West on Monday.
TimesLIVE visited the temporary camp on Tuesday, which is now home to more than 300 people.
Freddy Manganatala, who is the team leader at the camp, said he was relieved to have been moved from the camp they were having to share with drug users.
Manganatala, who is originally from Mamelodi, said he requested that the “working class” be moved to another camp.
“We arrived yesterday, that side the place was getting full, it was getting overcrowded so we asked them to move those who are working and looking for jobs, now we are happy here,” he said.“We have 354 people here with 49 tents and it’s three people per tent but some have four. We are only asking for masks and products to wash our hands. We would also like to know what is happening in the world because there is no communication or information that is coming to us as to what is happening in the country,” Manganatala said.
Antone de Lange said he keeps himself busy by reading old magazines while his neighbours entertain themselves by playing music and dancing. The 49-year-old, who uses crutches to walk because of a back problem, said he was living on the streets when he was told by police that there were shelters.
“We were told to go to the camps by the police and we ended up at Caledonian camp and it was bad. We were victims of robbery so they brought us here on Monday,” he said.
The 49-year-old shares his tent with his sister-in-law and a friend.
His sister-in-law is the only female at the camp.