Cape Town - Bromwell Street families have filed an urgent application before the Western Cape High Court to compel the City of Cape Town to meaningfully engage and provide them with temporary alternative accommodation.
The families face eviction on Monday, and the application is likely to be heard on Friday.
Their homes were sold to the Woodstock Hub, which served them with eviction notices.
Daneel Knoetze, spokesperson for NGO Ndifuna Ukwazi, which has taken the case on behalf of the families, says the organisation will request the court put the eviction on hold - until it has ruled on the City’s obligation to provide the residents with temporary accommodation.
Pierrinne Leukes, spokesperson for mayor Patricia de Lille, said: “It is their democratic right to take the City to court. We will accordingly oppose the matter.”
Ndifuna Ukwazi will argue that the Bromwell Street families were prejudiced in the court proceedings which led to the Woodstock Hub securing an eviction order against them in March 2016. Knoetze said this court order was handed down after a purported agreement between the families and the Woodstock Hub.
The eviction order was therefore not granted after a full hearing, where the court determined whether an eviction would be just and equitable, as required by the Prevention of Illegal Eviction and Unlawful Occupation Act. The families were ordered to vacate their homes by July 31. This was postponed to September 9 and again to September 26, after De Lille intervened.”Our clients have maintained that they were not privy or in agreement to the eviction order. An eviction following from that order would not be just and equitable because it will render our clients homeless and destitute,” said Knoetze.
“Our attempts to engage with the City of Cape Town have been unsuccessful. The City does not believe it has an obligation to assist tenants with the provision of temporary accommodation in the aftermath of evictions initiated by a private party.”
Cape Times