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Eviction attorney cape Town Archives | Page 6 of 19 | Eviction Lawyers South Africa

Sep 01
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City of Cape Town accused of taking homeless people’s belongings

City of Cape Town accused of taking homeless people’s belongings

By | Eviction news, Homeless

Reprinted from ENCA – 2021-08-30

CAPE TOWN – Homeless people in Cape Town have more to lose than just their make-shift shelters under the municipality’s by-laws.

The City has been accused of confiscating the personal possessions of homeless people.

One example is that of a woman who has had her life-saving ARV’s allegedly confiscated by law enforcement officers.

Shaun Herbert, who lives in Greenpoint, said he returned from shopping to find law enforcement at his tent.

“I asked my brother what was going on. He said law enforcement said we must take out our stuff, they’re going to confiscate our tents.

“I thought it was a joke. I left my stuff inside, I’ve got a big tent, we made it flat and then this officer came to me and said we have to take out all your belongings because we’re confiscating your tent. So I said, “why is this” so he said they’ve got an eviction order against us,” Herbert said.

“I asked him, where is the eviction order and he said I mustn’t worry about it, everybody just wants us away [from] here.”

Herbert said some of the tents were returned but the personal belongings have not been returned yet.

“All of us don’t want to be on the streets, we want to have normal lives. We also would like to take a hot bath, people don’t understand that we’ve got to wash in cold water, we’ve got to walk miles to get water because the City Council doesn’t allow us to take water [from] public toilets,” he said.

“We’ve got no other alternative. We want lives, we want jobs, we want to be recognised as people again. None of us have asked for this to happen.”

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:

Aug 09
0

Housing organisations condemn Cape Town’s draft unlawful occupation by-law

By | Eviction news, Evictions, Homeless

Cape Town’s draft Unlawful Occupation By-law is condemned by housing organisations, as this article from The Daily Vox explains.

Reprinted from The Daily Vox, by Ling Shepherd – 2021-08-09

The City of Cape town’s draft Unlawful Occupation by-law closed for public comment on July 31. Several social housing organisations including Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU) have urged the public to reject the bylaw coming into effect. NU has described the bylaw as a shocking assault on poor and working class families. 

What is the By-Law? 

The Unlawful Occupation by-law will provide the city with guidance to manage and prevent unlawful (illegal) occupation of land and buildings in Cape Town. The by-law aims to fill legislative gaps to reduce risks to the city, private landowners, commuters and other stakeholders. This is while adhering to national legislation. The following is covered in the by-law, among others, managing settlements, and responding to and preventing unlawful occupation.

Housing Activist response to the By-Law 

NU issued a statement on July 31 in which civil society and former United Nations (UN) housing experts condemned the by-law.

The former UN experts on the right to adequate housing, Miloon Kothari, Raquel Rolick and Leilani Farha said those occupying the land do so because the city does not provide adequate housing in Cape Town. Unhoused people either sleep on the streets, or build their own housing. Imposing criminal charges onto people in these circumstances is discriminatory; their right to housing is denied and their remedy is punished harshly, the experts said.

NU has condemned the draft bylaw citing that it would criminalise homelessness. Mpho Raboeane, an attorney from NU, wrote that the draft bylaw operates within a system of historical dispossession, inequality and landlessness.

Raboeane further wrote that the city’s approach to the bylaw is of the singular view of property ownership rights. “The bylaw operates within a context of discriminatory legacies, and will reintroduce apartheid era legislation. The draft bylaw also gives a set of wide ranging powers to vaguely defined officials, to remove and demolish informal dwellings without a court order,” said Raboeane.

Raboeane cited section 26(3) of the South African constitution.

“No one may be evicted from their home, or have their home demolished, without an order of court made after considering all the relevant circumstances. No legislation may permit arbitrary evictions.”

City of Cape town responses to unlawful occupations

Malusi Booi, mayoral committee (Mayco) member for human settlements said there has been a spike in unlawful occupations since the start of the March 2020 Covid-19 lockdown.

Evictions and demolitions of people’s land and homes were not allowed under lockdown alert level 5 in 2020, unless an order of the court was granted. The City of Cape Town carried out evictions and shack demolitions during the nationwide lockdown. 

Protests

Residents of Pola Park, an informal settlement, protested against the city of Cape Town from July 9. City officials demolished shacks under a directive from the Human Settlements department resulting in violent clashes between the two groups.

Community leader Sonwabile Ntondini said, the city comes into the community at any time to beat and humiliate them. “We were told they didn’t have the right to come and demolish our homes like this, yet here they are. We didn’t move here because we wanted to, we had no choice after losing our jobs to Covid-19,”said Ntondini.

A group of Vrygrond residents protested on July 14 after a chicken coop was demolished by the City of Cape Town’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit.  Resident and local farmer Michael Khumalo said the coop was being used for a six-week program to train youth how to farm chickens. Khumalo said that the City’s actions were “irresponsible” in the current economic climate.

JP Smith, Mayco member for safety and security said that the protest was a response to the removal of structures erected in violation of a court order. City of Cape Town’s Luthando Tyhalibongo said the city acted within the court order(s) to prevent the further unlawful occupation of this land.

Tyhalibongo said the site is on City-owned land and it is not eligible for housing as it forms part of the False Bay Nature Reserve. “The City has had ongoing consultations with the group over a number of years about the ongoing attempts to illegally occupy this land,” Tyalibongo said.

NU and Reclaim the City will be hosting a public meeting on August 11 to address the little progress the City of Cape Town has made in affordable housing development.

The city of Cape Town could not be reached for comment today on the housing activist statement.

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:

Jul 15
0

Family of 10 sleep in community hall after ‘unlawful lockdown eviction’

By | Eviction news, Homeless

Reprinted from TimesLive, by Shonisani Tshikalange – 2021-07-14

unlawful lockdown eviction

Elias Mtolo lived in a car with his wife before the family sought shelter in a community hall. Image: Supplied

A family of 10 faces imminent eviction as they squat at a hall in Vanderbijlpark, south of Johannesburg, after being evicted during level 4 of the lockdown.

Elias Mtolo and his wife Maheneng spent three days sleeping in an old car while their eight children were squashed into a small shack, after the house they shared on a plot was demolished by his employer, who is now nowhere to be found.

A court ruled at the weekend that they should not have been evicted.

Mtolo and his family sought shelter at the community hall on Friday.

“I was sleeping in a car with my wife while my children were sleeping in the small shack that I put up with the small material that was left from what was demolished,” he said.

The 45-year-old said he started working for his employer in March 2000.

“I was taking care of his cows and sheep on his farm. In 2010 he told me that he is no longer going to use the farm, then he moved me with my family to Vanderbijlpark on his property.”

The man worked at his boss’s ice company and, later, at his supermarket.

Mtolo said on June 16, his employer arrived with policemen to tell him that all tenants, except him, must be off the property because it had been sold.

“But they told me that I was excluded and that I will move to his new property temporarily until he finds me my own permanent house,” he said.

He said on June 24 police returned, telling him to move off the property.

“I was surprised by the policemen, who came back to threaten me. On July 6, early in the morning, he came with [vehicles to demolish the house and] he told me that I must move out my furniture and he will break the house down. I moved my furniture out, then he ran away and never came back.”

Elias Mtolo said he hasn’t received any communication from his former employer since they were evicted.

Elias Mtolo said he hasn’t received any communication from his former employer since they were evicted.
Image: Supplied

Mtolo’s youngest child is not yet two, his oldest is 23.

“My children are not fine, I am also not fine. We are heartbroken. My wife is also heartbroken. Our spirits are down.

“The two who are doing matric couldn’t read properly after what happened. They could not focus,” he said.

An attorney at Marweshe Attorneys Inc, Tony Mathe, working with his colleague Mabu Marweshe, made an urgent application in the Johannesburg high court on Friday evening, with the matter heard on Saturday.

The application — which sought to, among other things, have the eviction and demolition of the property declared illegal and unconstitutional and have the employer provide temporary shelter or accommodation to the family immediately — was granted by the court.

Mtolo, however, said he had not yet heard from his former employer.

Mathe said the conduct violated level 4 regulations, which were clear that no evictions may take place during this period.

“This also is a direct violation of human rights and the constitution of SA, which is clear that everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected. Further violation is [of] the Children’s Act, which was formulated to protect the rights of the children,” he said.

“The man has not contacted us, which means he is not willing to comply with the court order. We are getting ready to go back to court urgently, as our clients are still in a community hall facing imminent eviction,” he said.

Attempts to contact Mtolo’s former employer were unsuccessful.

For further information

This eviction is a clear breach of regulations under the Disaster Management Act. SD Law is a law firm in Cape Town and Johannesburg with specialist eviction lawyers. If you need advice on lease agreements, evictions, or other aspects of landlord-tenant relations, contact Cape Town attorney Simon Dippenaar on 086 099 5146 or email sdippenaar@sdlaw.co.za.

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