Speaking at the event held at the Seventh Adventist Church, at 2 Fairview Street in Bloemfontein on Thursday, Koloi said this is part of the department's intervention programme which seeks to address lingering issues of homeless people. Various homeless people were given an opportunity to speak about how they ended up on the streets. Some of them mentioned they had family issues and requested the department to intervene and help them to reunite with their families. 

One of the homeless people mentioned that he was arrested for two years and when he came out of prison he found his home in disarray and decided to leave it. He also claimed that he was a member of the SANDF, and has lost hope as he has not received his money. Koloi said the department will attend to the issues raised by homeless people in the metro.

"As social development, we have embarked on a programme today to profile people living on the streets and we have different categories that we have realised. There are those who finished matric, there are those who need ID documents, there are those who have fallen pregnant, and there are those who want to be reunited with their families," explained Koloi.

Some homeless people mentioned they had family issues and requested the department to intervene and help them to reunite with their families. Photo: Kekeletso Mosebetsi 

She said her department would engage with other departments to address these challenges faced by homeless people and further said that they will be taking the programme throughout the province to ensure that the needs of homeless people are met as they are also humans and have rights. Killing further divulged that the department is also looking into a long-term strategy which includes identifying land where a centre can be built for them and they can be trained for skill development and end up being employed.

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