Woodstock evictions: Joy as Judge Weinkove recuses himself

File photo: ANA Pictures

File photo: ANA Pictures

Published Jul 6, 2017

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Hearings into the future of 27 Bromwell Street residents who face eviction from their Woodstock homes will start afresh as a new judge steps in.

Western Cape High Court acting Judge Leslie Weinkove recently stepped down from presiding over the case, abandoning a hearing into an application for his recusal, which was expected next month.

Ndifuna Ukwazi Law Centre, on behalf of the residents, launched the application against Weinkove following comments he made in court during the case earlier this year. While the application is now unnecessary, the residents are, separately, still pursuing a complaint lodged with the Judicial Service Commission against Weinkove, whom they believe violated their right to dignity and breached the code of ethics required of judges.

They said Weinkove made a number of disparaging remarks, including calling the residents “squatters” in the homes they have resided in lawfully for decades, and insinuating that unemployed people do not need to be close to opportunities and services.

In their application, they transcribed what Weinkove said: “But where you have got a person who is not working, who has not got an income, what do you do? What is the point of them being near a school? What is the point of them needing transport? Where are they going to go? They have not even got money to spend anything.”

The city plans to relocate the 27 residents - including children - to an incremental development area in Wolwerivier, which the residents have rejected, saying it is far from schools, health-care facilities and transport nodes.

The Woodstock Hub bought the Bromwell Street houses in 2013, and instituted eviction proceedings during July 2015. According to court papers, the property-development company wants to construct “middle income” units for rent between R5 000 and R9 000 a month.

Many of those living in the houses earn R3 500 a month or less, and last year an eviction suspension order was granted. The case is expected back, provisionally, in September, and acting Judge Mark Sher has been appointed.

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