Category

Farm evictions

Jun 19
1
Bad husband

Can I be evicted from the farm I have been living on for decades?

By | ESTA, Farm evictions

The text below is the answer to a question posed by a reader to GroundUp – 2024-06-12

The short answer

As a person living on a farm, you may be covered by the Extension of Security of Tenure Act of 1997.

The whole question

Dear Athalie

I have lived on a farm in Stellenbosch with my grandmother and uncle for 31 years. They have both passed on now. Last week I was given an eviction letter. Other people living on the farm got them too – even ones who used to work on the farm.

The long answer

No one in South Africa can be evicted without a court order. A new owner cannot evict you without a court order and the court must find that the eviction is fair and just before granting an eviction order.

As a person living on a farm, you are covered by the Extension of Security of Tenure Act of 1997 (ESTA) if you do not earn more than R5,000 a month and you are not a labour tenant.

The organisation PASSOP points out that under ESTA you have special rights if you are a long-term occupier. If you are older than 60 and have lived on the farm for ten years, you can stay on the farm for the rest of your life. The only way that you can be evicted is if you do not honour agreements that you have made with the owners, or if you do something seriously wrong. An eviction is only lawful if there is an eviction order from a court, and the eviction must also be just and equitable.

If you are younger than 60, but have lived on the farm since before 4 February 1997 (when the new Constitution came into effect), and you have done nothing wrong, the court will not grant an eviction order unless there is alternative accommodation available where you can enjoy the same quality of life. As you have lived on the farm for 31 years, that protection would apply to you.

ESTA protects farm dwellers against unfair evictions and sets out how disputes over rights to the land can be resolved with mediation, arbitration or the courts. The decisions that the courts make must strike a balance between the constitutional right of a person to a home and the rights of the landowner.

The Constitutional Court emphasized in a 2016 case, that security of tenure and provision of adequate housing must be at the centre of the eviction process in terms of ESTA.

If the new owner wants you all to leave, these are the procedures he must follow:

  • He must give you a notice that if you do not vacate the premises within two months of the notice, he will go to court for an eviction order. (The owner is not allowed to remove you by physical force or by blocking access to the property.)

  • He must send a copy of this notice letter to the local authority and the provincial office of the Department of Land Affairs, to warn the municipality and the Department that they might need to make arrangements for alternative accommodation for you, and for mediation, if this is possible.

  • The application for eviction through ESTA must be brought either to the Land Claims Court or to the Magistrate’s Court.

In an ESTA application for eviction, the court will look at the following questions to decide whether it is just and fair to evict you:

  • Was the original agreement between the occupier and the owner fair?

  • How did the parties conduct themselves?

  • How much is each party going to suffer if this eviction happens or does not happen?

  • Did you expect to stay on the land for a longer period?

  • Are there valid grounds for evicting you?

In the court enquiry, you have the right to have another person or a lawyer there to help you state your case. After the enquiry, if the eviction order is granted, the owners must inform you of their decision in writing, and remind you that you have the right to take the matter to court if you disagree with the outcome of the enquiry.

The eviction order also has to be sent to the Land Claims Court to be confirmed before it can be enforced.

If you need help and advice, you could contact the following organisations:

3 Hans Strijdom Avenue Lane

Tulbagh Centre Building (Room 413)

Cape Town 8001

Office Telephone: 0214182838

Office E-mail: office@passop.co.za

Link to Programme: Security of Farm Workers Project

Telephone number:  021 424 8561

Physical address:

4th floor, Vunani Chambers,

33 Church Street,

City Centre,

Cape Town

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:

Oct 04
0
RDP house

‘I want to take my last breath in this house’ says Cape farm dweller facing eviction

By | ESTA, Evictions, Farm evictions

Reprinted from capetownetc.com, by Liezl Human of GroundUp – 2023-10-03

Two families on a farm in Vredendal on the West Coast are being evicted from the homes they have occupied for several generations.

Several other tenants also living on Welverdiend Farm have been told to relocate to RDP houses in Vredendal North.

The residents, most of whom have lived on the farm all their life, do not want to move to a township which they say is dangerous and has frequent incidents of crime. They also don’t want to leave the farm because the graves of their parents, siblings, children and other relatives are on the property.

The current owner, Truter Lutz, purchased the farm for commercial agriculture in 2015. He wants the tenants to leave the houses so that his current employees can move in as the farm is about ten kilometres from the nearest urban area. None of the people currently living on the farm are employed by Lutz.

Welverdiend mostly farms fruit, vegetables and nuts for both the local and international market.

In an attempt to secure the families’ tenure, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development had offered to buy the portion of the farm where they live. However, this offer was not accepted by the new owner. The matter is expected to be heard in the Land Claims court. No court date has been set yet.

According to court papers dated 30 May 2023, seen by GroundUp, the land was ‘free of any encumberments or land claims of any kind’ at the time of purchase.

Meanwhile, Andreas Finana whose family has lived on the farm for many generations says he remembers life there while he was growing up. Finana, now 50, points to a tree nearby where he had carved out his name as a young child.

According to Lutz’s affidavit, Finana was employed at Welverdiend from August 2020 until January 2022, when he was dismissed.

Finana lives with his sister and one of his children. ‘This farm has passed through three hands since my birth,’ he says. ‘I want to take my last breath in this house and be buried up here.’

Finana says they are worried what life would be like if they have to leave the peace that comes with living on a farm. ‘Here I can leave all my doors and windows open. I can leave my laundry outside. I can walk over to that house anytime of the day or night … I feel safe here.’

Elderly couple Anna and Dawid Saal were among the several tenants who received a letter that they needed to relocate to an RDP house. All four of their children were born on the farm. Anna was born on the farm in 1953 and her parents had worked on the farm. Dawid moved to the farm when they got married in the 1970s. Their son was also buried near their home.

Dawid says they struggled to understand what the ‘big words’ in the letter actually meant. Dawid said their son was buried in the graveyard on the farm and he also wants to be buried there.

Thys Beukes, who was a seasonal worker for one of previous farm owners, says he worries about his elderly mother’s health and quality of life should they be successfully evicted. ‘She is too old to move to the place they want us to relocate to. There are murders, rapes, and thievery,’ he says.

Coleen Arnolds, development facilitator at the Surplus People Project — a local organisation helping the farm dwellers — told GroundUp that there was ‘lots of violence’ in Vredendal North and that it would be a major change for this group to be forced to move there.

She said the RDP houses in Vredendal were cramped and didn’t have much space for the farm dwellers’ to sustain themselves by ‘planting vegetables’ like they do on the farm.

We sent several questions to the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. Officials told GroundUp that they could not comment before the matter is adjudicated in court.

When we contacted the farm owner, Mr Lutz, his legal representative, Steph Grobler responded to GroundUp, which we have published below in full:

“Our client does not intend to answer each and every one of your queries and the same should not be construed as an admission or denial of the same. Our client also reserves the right to respond at a later point in time should our client deem the same to be necessary.

Our client is a commercial farmer and the land in question is zoned for agriculture purposes. The farm was purchased free of any land claims and/or other encumberments. Our client confirms that there are two (2) pending Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA) eviction matters. The respondents are represented by Legal Aid South Africa and have this week filed a notice of appearance confirming the intention to oppose the matters. Our client will continue to follow the lawful process and will continue to engage with all the interested parties in an attempt to find an amicable solution.

It is specifically confirmed that there are no aged persons amongst the respondents or occupiers who enjoy protected status under section 8(4) of the Act. There are certain occupiers who enjoy protected status who have received RDP houses in the local housing project. In terms of the applicable municipal legislation and rules pertaining to subsidies, the recipients/beneficiaries are required to accept the allocation and are to reside in the house in question themselves. It is common cause that a real right in property, which so few of our citizens have the privilege to enjoy, is a stronger right than any personal right that is acquired through the operation of the ESTA Act.

Our client is of the view that the aforementioned persons should relocate peacefully to their allocated houses and take occupation thereof. Our client has attempted to meet with the occupiers to determine how they can be of assistance to relocate them peacefully to their RDP houses. These attempts have to date hereof been futile and met with hostility.

In these instances, the state has fulfilled its section 26 duty, and the beneficiary should accept the allocation and take occupation forthwith. To expect a private landowner to continue to house occupiers when they have alternative accommodation available is prejudicial to the landowner and to the commercial viability of the farm. The intention of ESTA, as it is clear from the preamble, is to provide security of tenure to vulnerable farm workers who do not enjoy access to alternative accommodation. It could never have been the intention of the legislature that persons who have received state grants (again a reference to the law in this regard) should be able to remain on the farm and enjoy possession and occupation of both premises. ESTA speaks to the permanence of residence, as does the applicable rules pertaining to individual housing subsidies/RDP houses.

Our client will continue to follow a lawful process in this regard and will engage with the interested parties including the local municipality in an attempt to find an amicable solution. In the event the parties are unable to find an amicable solution, our client will follow the applicable legal process.”

Facing eviction?

This case is before the courts. It is not for us to comment on whether or not these evictions are lawful. However, if you think you are being subjected to illegal eviction practices, or if you are evicting a tenant lawfully and the eviction is being opposed, our specialist eviction lawyers can help. Simon Dippenaar & Associates, Inc. helps landlords and tenants maintain healthy working relationships but, when necessary, we can assist with eviction, ensuring it is effected legally and ethically and all parties’ rights are respected. Contact one of our eviction attorneys on 086 099 5146 or simon@sdlaw.co.za for assistance with eviction matters.

 

Sep 23
0

Farm eviction battle in Concourt

By | Eviction news, Farm evictions, Homeless

Reprinted from the Star, by Bongani Nkosi – 2021-09-22

Johannesburg – The Constitutional Court has been asked to come to the rescue of a man who has allegedly been evicted along with his family by farmers he worked for over the last 21 years.

Alias Mtolo, his wife, Maheneng Mtolo, and their eight children found themselves homeless after allegedly being evicted from the farm in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng, without a notice.

The Mtolos launched urgent court applications against Theunis Christoffel Lombard and his wife Maria Helentje Lombard following their alleged eviction.

The legal battle between the Mtolos and the Lombards reached the apex court yesterday.

Representing the Mtolos, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi SC told the justices the matter was brought before them following an unfavourable judgment by a South Gauteng High Court judge.

In this contested judgment, Judge Fiona Dippenaar struck the Mtolos’ application from the roll. They had approached her to seek an order compelling the Lombards to comply with an earlier order.

In that order, Judge Michael Antonie directed the Lombards to return the farm house to the possession of the Mtolos and make it fit for human occupation.

Central in the matter were also allegations that the Lombards had not fixed the house that was damaged during the “eviction” of the Mtolos.

Ngcukaitobi called on the Constitutional Court to interfere with Judge Dippenaar’s ruling.

“Firstly we say that Judge Dippenaar did not consider the implications of homelessness on the part of the Mtolo family, which itself would be an infringement of Section 26 of the Constitution,” he said.

Secondly, Ngcukaitobi said, Judge Dippenaar failed to consider whether the Lombards had complied with Judge Antonie’s order that they should fix the house.

“The facts show that the structure or the house of the Mtolos is a dangerous structure and it is not fit for human occupation,” Ngcukaitobi said.

“To sum up (this matter), we’re dealing with a case of homelessness because of a structure that constitutes a death trap.”

He referred to a report by the Emfuleni local municipality that described the four room house as hazardous.

It said the house’s corrugated iron sheets were not properly installed and risked being blown away by wind.

Ngcukaitobi said a just and equitable ruling in this matter would be one that ordered the Lombards to fix the house and allow the Mtolos back in.

“(It) is not punishment for the eviction that we’re asking for,” he said.

“But what we’re asking for is what would be just and equitable in the case of a farmworker who has worked for the same family for 21 years and then got kicked out without notice.”

Advocate Nadia Smit, representing the Lombards, denied that the Mtolos were evicted, or that they did not have alternative accommodation after vacating the farm house.

“They misrepresented themselves and they misled the court, not only this court but also the high court, by saying they are homeless,” she told the apex court.

“It’s evident from pictures attached to our answering affidavit in this court and before Judge Dippenaar and before Judge Antonie that in fact they had alternative accommodation. They weren’t homeless.”

Smit also denied that Judge Antonie’s judgment was not complied with. She said the house was fixed but the Mtolos had not returned. “We never asked them to vacate.”

Judgment was reserved.

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: