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Eviction news

Jan 30
0

Hundreds evicted from buildings in Cape Town city centre

By | Eviction news, Homeless

Reprinted from CapeTownetc.com, by of GroundUp – 2024-01-28

Piles of suitcases, mattresses and items of furniture were strewn across the narrow Commercial Street in Cape Town on Wednesday and Thursday.

Hundreds of people, most of whom are foreign nationals, were evicted from three buildings in the city centre.

The area outside 42 and 44 Commercial Street was in chaos on Wednesday as dozens of South African Police Service (SAPS) officers and immigration officials cordoned off the street where the occupiers remained with their belongings. The occupied buildings are in close proximity to Parliament.

According to Western Cape SAPS spokesperson Malcolm Pojie, more than 100 undocumented people were transported to Epping Immigration Office for verification. ‘All other persons who illegally occupied the building were informed to vacate the premises with immediate effect,’ he said.

The occupiers were reportedly served with eviction notices from March 2023. A court order which was granted on 31 August 2023, stated: ‘The first to 265 respondents are ordered to vacate property situated at 44 to 48 Commercial Street, Cape Town, Western Cape by no later than December 31, 2023.’

The August court order was granted a few days after a fire in one of the buildings that was caused due to an electrical fault.

The court also said that if the occupiers do not vacate, then the sheriff and SAPS are authorised to remove the group with their belongings.

When we arrived on Wednesday, the occupiers — some standing with bags filled with their belongings — had been told to wait outside while officials went into the buildings to remove their belongings.

One of the occupiers, Pearl Myekeni, said she received an eviction notice in March.

Myekeni said they were told that the landlord to whom they were paying rent had apparently not been paying the owner of the building. The owner then terminated the contract. ‘We ended up collecting R26,000 from the tenants, each tenant contributed about R300. I didn’t participate so I was told that I can’t sleep here.’

She said slept at her boyfriend’s house on Wednesday night. Myekeni has been living in the building since September 2022.

She said she has had her belongings packed in boxes since December in anticipation of being evicted.

Another tenant, who did not want to give her name, claimed that ‘more than a thousand’ people were living in the buildings. ‘About four months ago after finding out that the landlords were not paying the owner of these buildings, we got rid of them and we haven’t been paying rent to anyone ever since then.’

Azubuike Kanu, who said he has lived in one of the buildings for more than five years, told GroundUp that he sent his wife and children to live in the Eastern Cape in December in anticipation of the eviction.

‘We were violently taken out of the building [on Wednesday]. We were transported in a truck to Langa Home Affairs to check whether we are here illegally or not. Some were arrested. They drove me to Mowbray and I had to find my own way back here,’ said Kanu.

Kanu spent the night outside on the pavement again on Thursday because he has nowhere else to go.

Cape Town lawyer Junaid Jamat told GroundUp that he is representing 120 of the occupants. ‘We were made aware of the issue last week Friday, but the occupants had no funds for the case to be handled.’ He said by the time the residents had collected funds on Tuesday, it was too late to oppose the eviction in the High Court.

‘Unfortunately, by Wednesday morning the Sheriff and the police were already there evicting the people, so we were too late,’ he said.

GroundUp contacted the Department of Home Affairs for additional information on the arrested immigrants on Wednesday afternoon. No comment was given by the time of publication.

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 17
0

Court showdown over Cape Flats evictions

By | Eviction news, Evictions, Homeless

“We are not here because we want to be here. We are here because we need homes.”

Reprinted from GroundUp, by Mary-Anne Gontsana – 2023-10-16

  • People living in about 110 informal structures and Wendy houses at Cathkin Village informal settlement in Heideveld are facing eviction.
  • They first moved onto the land earmarked for the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) in May 2018 due to the lack of affordable housing options in the community.
  • Their fate will be determined on 24 October when their eviction case is heard in court.

Hundreds of people living on land earmarked for the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) are heading to court later this month to fight their eviction.

There are about 110 informal structures and Wendy houses at the Cathkin Village informal settlement in Heideveld. It is home to hundreds of backyarders who occupied the vacant land in May 2018 due to the lack of affordable housing options in the community.

Residents like Faranaaz Fisher fear being evicted from the area where most of them have lived their whole lives. Fisher said she has been on the housing waiting list for more than 20 years and could no longer live in her mother’s cramped council flat with ten other relatives.

She said that life at the settlement hasn’t been easy because they don’t have basic services and gang violence in the surrounding area is rife.

“We lock this (entrance) gate at 7pm for safety purposes. Everyone here, especially the children, know that they need to be inside by then. We don’t allow nonsense. We try our best to keep this a safe environment from things like drugs and crime. We even have a neighbourhood watch,” she said.

Fisher said that because there was no electricity in the settlement, most residents used car batteries to power small appliances, rechargeable lights, and gas stoves for cooking. “It gets completely dark here at night because we don’t even have a mast light.”

Another resident, Farinaas Lakay, said they only have access to three taps and porta-potties. “The City of Cape Town failed us and has probably forgotten about us,” she said. “We are not here because we want to be here. We are here because we need homes.”

Cathkin Village is fenced off and has two entrance/exit gates. One of the entrances is situated on the side of a block of flats, which according to Lakay, has many shooting incidents.

According to Lakay, most of the residents in the settlement have been on the housing waiting list for decades.

On the eviction order, Lakay said: “We are fighting for houses. We want houses to be built on this land. Our children go to school here, our husbands have jobs here and everything is close by like public transport and clinics. More importantly, most of us are from Heideveld.”

WCED spokesperson Kerry Mauchline told GroundUp that the land was allocated to the department but it is under the custodianship of the Department of Infrastructure.

“The land is illegally invaded. Court action has been initiated to remove the illegal occupants so that the land can be used for education. An eviction order was issued against the illegal occupants. In terms of the eviction order, the City of Cape Town must find alternative accommodation for the occupants,” said Mauchline.

Mayco member for Water and Sanitation Zahid Badroodien said: “The City’s Water and Sanitation Directorate’s Informal Settlement provided three standpipes on a City-owned piece of land on the periphery of the informal settlement, and 109 portable flush toilets. Currently there are no further plans as the land where the informal settlement stands does not belong to the City.”

Junaid Jumat, the lawyer representing the Cathkin occupants, said: “An eviction order had been granted against the residents just before Covid lockdown, and there were dates for when the eviction should’ve taken place, but those dates have since lapsed.” The case has been enrolled again, said Jumat.

Jumat said they want the court to amend the order and change the eviction date.

The matter is expected to be heard in court on 24 October.

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.