EQUAL EDUCATION PRESS STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF EE, SJC & NU
4 JUNE 2014
WE CONDEMN THE DESTRUCTION OF HOMES AND LIVES IN LWANDLE, CAPE TOWN
On 2 and 3 June 2014 a few hundred residents of Cape Town watched their homes being demolished in Lwandle, near Strand. An area as large as six soccer fields was cleared of its human inhabitants.
We have been at Lwandle/Nomzamo these past two days and we feel disappointmented and angry. Poor and working class families were pushed behind barbed wire to watch their homes being destroyed. These evictions initiated by SANRAL have left hundreds destitute.
16-year old Xolelwa Pupu, a grade 9 student at Khanyolwethu Secondary School, is a member of Equal Education's province-wide Leadership Committee. Her home was destroyed on Monday. She is currently writing exams, but sleeping in a community hall in Lwandle. Seventeen students in a similar position have approached EE for assistance.
No Eviction Order was ever granted by a court for the removal of these people. Rather, an Interim Interdict was granted on 24 January against those "intending to occupy" the land. It specifically excluded those "currently occupying the property at the date of the granting of this order" (see here - PDF).
The Interim Interdict was granted ex parte (without the residents being heard) on the very same day the application was filed. The interim interdict was then extended three times . In terms of the Prevention of Illegal Evictions Act (PIE) evictions required an eviction order, not an interdict. A judgment of the Constitutional Court is presently pending on this very question (see SERI's heads of argument - PDF.)
Premier Helen Zille has tweeted that "Neither the Province nor the City received prior notice of this eviction". But in order for this to have been a legal eviction the Act requires that: "The court must send written and effective notice of the proceedings on the unlawful occupier and the municipality having jurisdiction."
In any case, the City prompted SANRAL into action, as shown by a letter sent by the City to SANRAL (see here - PDF) on 22 January. The letter preceded the Interim Interdict by two days. The City's letter said that the structures "were erected without consent". The City's letter then gives SANRAL fourteen days "to rectify the situation".
The letter then cites section 6(5) of the Act which refers to when "an organ of state gives the owner or person in charge of land notice -¦ to institute proceedings for eviction". In other words, SANRAL were put to terms by the City to evict the occupants.
The application for an interdict by SANRAL did not attach any plans for the N2 development. Rather it attached the City's letter and letters (PDF) from better-off South Africans who objected to "squatters".
Evictions are sometimes necessary for legitimate development purposes. When this is the case there is still a need to provide temporary shelter. In the case of Blue Moonlight Properties a private company sought an eviction order. The South Gauteng High Court ordered eviction but also ordered the City of Johannesburg to provide emergency alternative accommodation. This was upheld in the SCA.
The Constitutional Court then considered the extent of the City's obligation to provide emergency accommodation to the occupiers and made it clear that the City had the duty to provide emergency housing for the evicted people, despite the eviction having been brought by a private company on private land.
All of the above means that the eviction in Lwandle was unlawful. The Constitution says in section 26(3): "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."
Action must be taken by the City to provide emergency accommodation to affected residents. When it was pointed out to SANRAL's Vusi Mona that the people are facing harsh rain he called this a "red herring". This typifies the callousness of both SANRAL and the City during the past few days. Snow is now forecast. We are not calling for the evicted residents to jump the housing queue but to be given temporary accommodation. The City's claim that receiving temporary shelter equates to jumping the housing queue is a real red herring.
We welcome the opening of the community hall by the City, and the provision of food and blankets by Disaster Relief. But hundreds of people cannot be hygienically accommodated in a hall on an ongoing basis. We welcome the apology by Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters, the Minister responsible for SANRAL, and her commitment that people will be allowed to return to the land, but we intend to insist that this commitment be made in writing.
We have set up an emergency relief drop-off point to assist the affected families. Anyone willing to help with relief such as non-perishable food, water-proof clothes, blankets, or concentrate juice, may drop these off at The Bookery, Plein Park, 63-89, Plein Street in Cape Town, between 8h00 and 18h30, every day this week.
Dustin Kramer (SJC Deputy Gen Sec)
Nishal Robb (EE Head of Campaigns)
Axolile Notywala (SJC Project Manager)
Nombulelo Nyathela (EE Spokesperson)
Statement issued by SJC, EE, and NU, June 4 2014
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