Category

Eviction orders

Court orders eviction of shantytown residents around Castle of Good Hope

By | Eviction news, Eviction orders, Homeless

Reprinted from TimesLive, by Timna Mgunculu – 2024-09-29

City of Cape Town has to offer alternative accommodation in the form of ‘safe spaces’

The department of public works (DPW) has obtained a court order to evict residents of a shantytown that sprang up around the Castle of Good Hope.

The department approached the high court in Cape Town on Tuesday asking for an order compelling the residents to leave the historic precinct by October 17.

According to the order, the City of Cape Town has to offer the residents “alternative accommodation” in the form of “safe spaces”. The shantytown residents “who take up the alternative accommodation at a City Safe Space shall be entitled to an initial six-month stay, which shall be extended until they have acquired alternative accommodation”.

This is “subject to such individuals engaging with the city and co-operating in meeting their respective Personal Development Plans”.

Should the residents not vacate the area by the cut-off date and not take up accommodation offered by the city, the sheriff, assisted by the police, will “eject” them. Their structures will also be demolished.

Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis welcomed the development, saying the situation had been a “concern”.

He said the city’s social development professionals had helped the department in documenting “the personal circumstances of each of the unlawful occupants via on-site interviews”.

Hill-Lewis said offers of “transitional shelter at City Safe Spaces and NGO-run night shelters have been made” and remain available.

“I warmly welcome the court granting an eviction order to the national DPW as the land custodian for the Castle precinct,” said Hill-Lewis. “This site has long been a source of public concern and complaint — as well as a source of frequent incidents of crime and general grime.

“The city has been pushing for more than two years for the owner of the site to take responsibility for it. We are grateful to the new minister for showing leadership and getting his department to act.

“The unlawful occupation began during the national lockdown, and the city has long been advocating for a resolution not only because of the Castle’s tourism and economic importance but also for the sake of the unlawful occupants. Accepting social assistance to get off the streets is the best choice for dignity, health and wellbeing.”

He said no-one had the right to reserve a public space as exclusively theirs while indefinitely refusing all offers of shelter and social assistance.

Hill-Lewis said the city last month completed all processes related to the final eviction order obtained for various unlawful occupation sites in the CBD along Buitengracht Street, FW de Klerk Boulevard, Foregate Square, the taxi rank and Foreshore, Helen Suzman Boulevard, Strand Street, Foreshore/N1, Virginia Avenue and Mill Street Bridge.

“Earlier this year, the high court further granted the city two similar eviction orders in recent months for central Cape Town, at the Green Point tennis courts in the vicinity of the Nelson Mandela Boulevard intersection with Hertzog Boulevard, Old Marine Drive and Christiaan Barnard Bridge,” said Hill-Lewis.

Hill-Lewis said the city would spend more than R220m in the next three years to expand and operate its Safe Space transitional shelters beyond the current 1,070 beds across the CBD, Bellville and Durbanville facilities.

“The city now operates two Safe Spaces at Culemborg in the east CBD, which offer 510 shelter beds across the facilities, with a new 300-bed Safe Space in Green Point opened in July 2024,” he said.

“A further facility is on the cards for Muizenberg, with plans for more around the metro. The city further runs the Matrix substance abuse treatment programme, with an 83% success rate for clients, addressing a key driver of why people end up on the streets.

“Annually the city helps about 3,500 individuals with shelter placement or referrals to an array of social services. In 22/23, this amounted to 2,246 shelter placements, 112 family reunifications and reintegrations, 1,124 referrals to social services, and more than 880 short-term contractual job opportunities via the expanded public works programme.”


For further information

Simon Dippenaar & Associates, Inc. is a law firm of specialist eviction lawyers in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. We help landlords and tenants maintain healthy working relationships. Contact one of our eviction attorneys on 086 099 5146 or simon@sdlaw.co.za if you need help with tenants’ rights or landlords’ responsibilities.

Further reading:

When can someone be removed from public land without a court order?

By | Eviction news, Eviction orders, PIE

 Reprinted from GroundUp, by Geoffrey Allsop – 2022-09-22

Since the Covid pandemic began, occupations of public land by destitute people have increased in various parts of the country. Below, we explain what the law currently says about when the government can lawfully remove people from public land and under what circumstances.

The Constitution

The Constitution states that no one can be evicted from their “home” or have their “home” demolished without an order of court.

This means that someone who has established a “home” on public land (whether lawfully or unlawfully) has a constitutional right to not be evicted or removed until a court has made an order that authorises the eviction to take place.

It also means they have a constitutional right to insist that any structures they have erected on the occupied land, which qualify as a “home”, cannot be demolished or removed until a court makes an order allowing this to occur. For example: if someone erects a shack on public land, and that shack is their “home”, the shack cannot be demolished without a court order.

If the government (or a private person) evicts someone or demolish their home – without first obtaining a court order – they are acting unlawfully.

Prevention of Illegal Eviction Act

The Prevention of Illegal Evictions Act (PIE) is the main law that gives effect to the constitutional right of everyone not to be arbitrarily evicted from their “home” and not to have their “home” demolished without a court order. It also regulates the process that the government must follow before it can lawfully evict people from public land.

According to PIE, the government can only evict someone from a “home” they have created on public land after the High Court or Magistrates Court makes an order allowing the eviction to take place. PIE also allows the court to make an order authorising the government to demolish or remove any structures built on the land. This could include structures which qualify as a “home”, such as a shack or a tent.

PIE, however, also states a court can set whatever conditions it thinks will be “reasonable” regarding the demolition or removal of structures erected on the land. This could include, for example, an order requiring the government to return any materials used to build a shack to occupiers after their eviction.

The PIE Act must always be complied with before anyone can lawfully be evicted from any “home” that they have established on public land. It does not matter whether their “home” was established lawfully or unlawfully. In both cases, the PIE Act must be followed. If the Act is not complied with, any eviction or demolition will be unlawful.

The PIE Act also states that a court can only make an order which authorises an eviction, or the demolition of a “home” on public land, when two main requirements are met. Firstly, it must be shown that it would “just and equitable” to allow the eviction. Secondly, it must be in the “public interest” to evict the occupiers from public land.

To determine whether these two requirements are met, the PIE Act states that the court must consider “all relevant factors”. These factors include

  • the needs and rights of the elderly, children and disabled people on the land;
  • the health and safety of the people occupying the land and the general public;
  • the circumstances which caused occupiers to occupy the public land in the first place and the period of time that they have lived on the land; and
  • the availability of other suitable accommodation or land for them, should they be evicted.

The PIE Act also contains several requirements designed to ensure that anyone evicted from a “home” they have built on public land are given a proper opportunity to argue why an order authorising their eviction, or the demolition of their home, should not be made by a court.

For example, the PIE Act requires, among other things: that anyone who may be evicted must be given 14 days notice of eviction proceedings, must be informed of the basis for their proposed eviction and advised of their right to oppose the case in person or to request that a lawyer from Legal Aid be appointed, if they cannot afford to pay a private lawyer.

When does the PIE Act apply?

The PIE Act will only apply when the government (or a private person) wants to evict or remove someone from land or property that the occupier regards as their “home”. When the property is not their “home”, the requirements in the PIE Act will usually not apply.

This means that if someone occupies public land but it is not their “home”, they can be removed without a court order. It also means that any structures they erect which do not qualify as a “home” could be demolished or removed without a court order.

However, neither the Constitution nor the PIE Act defines what will constitute a “home”. But, the PIE Act does provide a definition of what will constitute a “building or structure”. This definition states that a “building or structure” will include “a hut, shack, tent or similar structure or any other form of temporary or permanent dwelling or shelter.”

The building or structure must still constitute a “home” before it becomes necessary for the government to obtain a court order under PIE to evict people from public land.

The courts have not provided a comprehensive test to determine when a structure will constitute a “home” for purposes of the PIE Act. However, the courts have found that a structure will usually qualify as a “home” when it has these characteristics

  • the structure provides a shelter from the elements or functions as a dwelling for human habitation;
  • the structure is the primary residence of the person who occupies it;
  • the structure is regularly or permanently occupied by the person who lives in it.

This means, for example, that a temporary holiday home will not constitute a “home” in terms of the PIE Act. This is because a holiday home is not someone’s primary residence and is not occupied by them on a permanent basis. Similarly, the Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled that when a structure is erected and taken down each day, it will not constitute a “home” under the PIE Act. For example: when people erect makeshift structures out of cardboard each day and then take the structures down and put them up again, the structure will not be a “home” (this decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal has however been heavily criticised).

The courts have also held that, depending on the circumstances, a structure need not be occupied for a long time before it becomes a person’s “home”. For example, in one case, the Western Cape High Court found that a structure which had only been occupied by homeless people for 24 to 48 hours was their “home” and that they could not be evicted without a court order in terms of the PIE Act.

In another recent case, the Western Cape High Court has held that when there is any doubt about whether a structure constitutes a “home”, the authorities should presume that the structure is occupied and amounts to a “home” in terms of the PIE Act. This means that unless there is a clear basis to conclude that the structure is not a “home”, the authorities should first obtain a court order before demolishing the structure or removing people.

Where the authorities have removed people from public land, they have often argued that it was not required to comply with the PIE Act because the structures on the public land were not “homes”. The government has usually argued the structures were not “homes” because they were not yet completed, were unoccupied or were not the occupiers’ primary residence. Generally, the government has not had much success with these arguments in court.

Nevertheless, the definition of what constitutes a “home” for purposes of the PIE Act is constantly changing. It is likely that the courts will develop other tests to determine when a structure will constitute a “home” for purposes of the Act.

Counter spoliation

The defence of “counter spoliation” says that when someone unlawfully interferes with the possession of someone else’s property, the wronged person can take the law into their own hands (when certain requirements are met).

For example: when a landlord tries to unlawfully lock a shop owner out of their shop, the shop owner could take the law into their hands and break the locks provided that this is done immediately.

In several cases, the government has argued that it is entitled to remove people from public land without obtaining a court order, based on counter-spoliation. This is because an unlawful occupation of government land constitutes an interference with the government’s possession of the occupied public property. Provided the government acts instantly to prevent occupation, it could be possible for it to rely on counter-spoliation to remove people from the land without a court order.

This is according to a recent High Court judgment where the City of Cape Town removed various people from government land in Khayelitsha, and demolished various structures they erected, without first obtaining a court order in terms of PIE. After the occupiers challenged the City’s decision to remove them from the land without a court order under PIE, the City relied on the defence of counter-spoliation.

According to the High Court judgment, counter-spoliation is not necessarily inconsistent with the constitutional right of everyone not to be arbitrarily evicted from their home, or have their home demolished, without a court order in terms of the PIE Act.

But, the court did say that counter-spoliation must be used immediately to apply. Counter-spoliation should also only apply in limited circumstances. This is because counter-spoliation has the potential to violate the rights of people not to be evicted from their home without a court order.

The court found that in this case counter-spoliation could not be used by the City as a basis to remove the occupiers without a court order.

This was because the structures had already been erected before the City took steps to demolish them and remove the people. This meant that the City did not act instantly and could not rely on counter-spoliation.

But, even where the government does successfully use counter-spoliation to remove people from public land without a court order, the government still has a duty to provide emergency housing or accommodation to people who are removed. Where counter-spoliation cannot be used, and someone establishes a “home” on public land, then a court order in terms of the PIE Act must be obtained before they can lawfully be removed from the land.

The author is an attorney of the high court.


For further information

Simon Dippenaar & Associates, Inc. is a Cape Town law firm of specialist eviction lawyers, now operating in Johannesburg and Durban, helping both landlords and tenants with the eviction process. Contact one of our eviction attorneys on 086 099 5146 or simon@sdlaw.co.za if you have questions about your right of occupation or if you need advice on the eviction process.

Further reading:

Black emerging farmers evicted from state-owned farms in North West

By | Eviction news, Eviction notice, Eviction orders, Evictions, Farm evictions
A judge has given black emerging farmers in some parts of North West two weeks to remove their livestock from the farms and that they should be evicted if they failed to leave. File Picture: Sandile Ndlovu
A judge has given black emerging farmers in some parts of North West two weeks to remove their livestock from the farms and that they should be evicted if they failed to leave. File Picture: Sandile Ndlovu

Johannesburg – A judge has ordered the forceful removal of a group of emerging black farmers who occupied several state-owned farms in parts of North West.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development bought the farms from white farmers in 2019 for redistribution purposes.

A number of farmers occupied them within months after the government paid out millions of rand to the previous owners. These were largely livestock farmers.

The ministry led by Thoko Didiza took a group of 21 farmers to the North West High Court in a bid to evict them from the farms intended for redistribution to successful black applicants.

Judge Samkelo Gura found that the farmers had occupied the farms without permission.

The farmers testified that they occupied the farms with permission from the previous farm owners and officials of the department.

Judge Gura found otherwise: “Almost all previous owners of these farms have filed confirmatory affidavits to the (ministry’s) replying affidavit. They deny that they ever gave any of the respondents permission to occupy or to graze their livestock on the land,” he wrote in the judgment.

“Therefore, the respondents were dishonest to (the) court…”

Judge Gura heard from the farmers that they decided to move their livestock on to the farms after many unfulfilled promises by officials over many years.

The judge described the group as emerging farmers from villages spread throughout North West.

Parts of the judgment read as though Judge Gura was sympathetic to the group’s difficulties in getting the government to allocate them farms.

“The experience of the opposing respondents tell of gross irregularities in the manner the applicant has gone about allocating land,” he said.

“A significant number of the farms in and surrounding the villages where the opposing respondents reside are still operated by white farmers.

“Many of the opposing respondents have made numerous unsuccessful applications for agricultural land allocation. They do not know the reasons for their applications not being successful.”

However, it boiled down to whether the farmers occupied the farms legally and at no disadvantage to those whose applications were approved. Judge Gura said the government intended to lease the farms to black farmers after a rigorous selection process.

“The respondents admit that none of them holds any lease agreement with the government over these farms,” he said.

“They are therefore grazing their livestock and utilising the land for their benefit free of charge. They refuse to vacate the properties.”

He gave the farmers two weeks to remove their livestock from the farms. They should be evicted if they failed to leave.

Reprinted from IOL

Some links added by SD Law

For further information

Simon Dippenaar & Associates, Inc. is a Cape Town law firm of specialist eviction lawyers, now operating in Johannesburg and Durban, helping both landlords and tenants with the eviction process. Contact one of our eviction attorneys on 086 099 5146 or simon@sdlaw.co.za if you need advice on the eviction process or if you are facing unlawful eviction.

Further Reading: