Sun-seeking vagrants fined up to R40,000
They flock to South Africa's winter wonderland to escape the Gauteng chill. But although Durban's beachfront might be warm and welcoming to vagrants, the city fathers are less hospitable.The eThekwini council recently adopted a bylaw that clamps down on vagrancy, with a maximum penalty of R40 000 for misdemeanours such as loitering and urinating in public.The city said it had arrested vagrants in terms of the nuisances and behaviour in public places bylaw, which prohibits urinating and defecating in public, and outlaws drinking on the beach and sleeping there.The Durban metro police conducted daily bylaw enforcement operations.The municipality's Tozi Mthethwa said: "Sleeping vagrants are arrested."KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Thulani Zwane said 12 vagrants had been arrested and charged at the weekend.They faced a R200 admission-of-guilt fine but were reportedly released without paying it.Umhlanga ward councillor Heinz de Boer said: "The bylaw really cannot be enforced because they are indigent."He said vagrants came to Durban from Gauteng because it was warmer on the coast.Raymond Perrier, a champion of the homeless in Durban, said the municipality had criminalised poverty with its "ridiculous and nonsensical" bylaws...
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