SACP welcomes court ruling against unscrupulous evictions by the banks and their parasitic collaborators 

13 September 2018

The South African Communist Party welcomes the ruling by South Gauteng High Court, that there must be a reserve price set by a court in matters where execution is granted against immovable property used as a debtor’s primary residence, except under exceptional circumstances. The judgment was delivered on Wednesday, 12 September 2018 in Johannesburg, and has made the input of the debtor important for consideration in such cases.

The SACP congratulates the Lungelo Lethu Human Rights Foundation (LLHRF) for assisting the court as amicus curiae. In its submission to the court, the LLHRF set out the lived experiences of community members, mainly working class and poor households disadvantaged by the apartheid regime and further impoverished by the banks through evictions.

The SACP has been working together with the LLHRF in fighting the evictions. The Foundation has proved that unscrupulous evictions and housing fraud are being perpetrated by syndicates which include the banks, estate agents and others involved in “property development” together with some municipal housing officials and unscrupulous members of the police force and the legal profession.

In South Africa there was no reserve price set in cases of a foreclosure. There were many houses unjustly repossessed and sold by the banks on auction. The result was that the houses were sold at ridiculously low prices. It became common for houses to be sold for R100, and LLHRF has documentary records of three houses sold for R10.

Even if a person has defaulted on a bond – once the remainder of the bank loan is paid off and legal and administration costs are also paid, the rest of the money should go back to the person who has defaulted. This was not the case. The judgment is therefore a major victory on various fronts.

Issued by Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, National Spokesperson, SACP, 13 September 2018