WATCH | Army takes firm stance against Johannesburg’s homeless as lockdown gets under way
Members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and metro police stopped Johannesburg's homeless community from loitering in the CBD on Friday morning.
This comes just hours after the country went into national lockdown to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Soldiers rounded the homeless up just outside Park Station, while waiting for transport to the next available shelter.
One homeless man told News24 that they had waited till midnight for someone from government to place them in shelters, but nobody came, forcing them to seek shelter in the empty streets as the lockdown began.
South African human rights activist Mluleki Kondile said he was disappointed at the government's ability to deal with the homeless during the lockdown period.
"My job is to make sure that everyone who stays in the streets get sheltered as the president has promised. To my surprise, this was supposed to happen yesterday but it didn't happen," he said.
A while later, metro police arrived with trucks to transport the large group of people to available shelters.
"We will try and find out where they will be taken," Kondile said, adding that he wanted to be certain that they were in a protected space, where they can't contract the virus.
Law enforcement officers have continued to patrol the streets of Johannesburg to ensure that the public remain indoors during the 21-day lockdown.
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