Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has responded to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) dismissal of its appeal against the interim decision of the Western Cape High Court on evictions without judicial supervision.
The case against the City had been brought by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) around the controversial eviction of Bulelani Qolani from his shack last year.
The SAHRC launched an urgent application in the High Court to prevent the City from evicting persons and demolishing structures, whether occupied or unoccupied, during the national state of disaster without a court order.
The application was for interim relief (Part A), pending a decision on Part B, which primarily dealt with the constitutionality of the City’s conduct and its anti-land invasion unit, which carried out the evictions and demolitions.
It also queried whether the defence of counter spoliation, a legal remedy which allows a person to forcibly re-take possession of property unlawfully taken from them, permitting the eviction and demolition of a structure, occupied or unoccupied was constitutional.
The hearing of Part B was finalised on November 5 by the High Court and judgment was reserved.
The SCA found that it was difficult to conceive of a situation where judicial oversight of evictions and demolitions could ever amount to irreparable harm.
It also found the City was not precluded from evicting persons, but merely prohibited from doing so without judicial supervision.
In a brief statement the City said it hopes for a speedy outcome in the High Court but that it was important to bring this matter to the SCA, due to the concerning obstacles to protecting land arising from the interdict.
“It is noted that the SCA did however dismiss the High Court’s ruling that certain compensation be provided to illegal occupants, as there is no evidence that the City seized personal possessions during its land protection operations as falsely claimed,” the statement said.