Woman turns Central bus shelter into her home

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A woman’s makeshift home at a bus shelter in Central has caused endless issues for frustrated residents now living as her neighbours.

For almost two months the woman, thought to be in her 30s, has been coming “home” to the bus stop on the corner of Western Road and Deare Street, where she has set up a bed-like structure and decorated her makeshift home with items collected from rubbish bins.

For the residents at Cuylerholme Mansions, an old age home in Central, her presence has become too much to bear.

On sunny days there is a lingering stench that attracts flies, and they have even seen buckets of urine on her “property”.

The fence in front of their property is also being used as her personal closet.

Various attempts by management at the old age home to have her transferred to a place of safety have failed, according to home manager Agrett Phillips.

Phillips said the unidentified woman moved into the bus stop towards the end of January and refused to budge.

Instead, she shouted at anyone who approached her.

“It’s concerning for many reasons.

“Not only does it make the elderly residents uncomfortable, but she is also a vulnerable person and it’s unsafe for her to live like this,” Phillips said.

She said the home’s management had been unable to gather any information about who she was or where she had come from because she simply refused to answer any of their questions.

When a Herald team visited the bus stop this week, the woman was in the process of cleaning her shelter and setting up her bed.

She ignored questions from the reporter and instead muttered to herself.

Metro police officials who arrived a short while later said they had approached the woman under the impression that she was an illegal vendor.

One of the officers said he would report the matter to his superiors.

A resident who lives across the road from the shelter said the police had been called several times to remove the woman, but to no avail.

Phillips said: “It’s unhealthy for our residents.

“She [uses] a bucket [as a toilet] and then leaves it out in the open.

“She also collects food items which rot and attract flies.”

She said they were sometimes forced to empty the woman's bucket themselves.

At times, they used a hose pipe to wash down the pavement to try to get rid of the stench and flies.

Lisa Diesel, a social worker at the old age home, said she had been sent from pillar to post in her attempts to assist the woman.

“It’s been such a struggle because when we go to the police they say they can’t help us.

“We did write to the office of the ward councillor and they have referred the matter to the human settlements department, which we’ve been communicating with,” Diesel said.

Diesel said the woman’s shelter was also blocking the path to the ramp for wheelchair users.

But social development spokesperson Mzukisi Solani said the department had not received a complaint about the matter.

“Social development’s role is usually to mediate and attempt to reunite people with their families because in many instances, upon investigation, we find that they do have families.

“However, our approach depends on the situation.

“In this case, we would need to speak to the woman to try to trace where she comes from,” Solani said.

Human settlements officer Erika Potburg said officials had been notified but had struggled to find the woman when they visited the shelter.

“On the multiple occasions that we’ve been there, we have found the shelter empty and we can’t take her belongings without her.

“From the information we have, she is seemingly mentally challenged but we will need to have her assessed by a professional,” she said.

Human settlements head Mkhuseli Mtsila said the woman’s mental state would need to be looked into.

“We do have social workers who can intervene in cases like hers to see what can be done.”

Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said she was unaware of any problems with a woman living in a bus shelter because such matters were usually handled by social development, unless a crime such as sexual harassment or theft was involved.

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