Third judge appointed in court case of halting illegal occupations in progress after initial stalemate

8 December 2020 

The Western Cape Government (WCG) welcomes the decision by Judge President Hlophe to allocate a third judge in part B of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and the Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) litigation against the City of Cape Town (CoCT), as to the use of counter- spoliation by landowners as a means to repel land invasion.

Yesterday’s decsion comes after the 2 presiding Judges Meer and Allie advised that they cannot reach an agreement on the terms of the judgement, after they first sat through arguments over the course of four days in the Western Cape High Court in late November.

It was initially proposed  by Judge President Hlophe that the entire matter should thus now be re-argued before 3 new judges, but after the WCG proposed to him that extensive  costs and time could be saved if a third Judge was rather allocated to this matter- in a  manner akin to what applies to deadlocks in civil or criminal appeals- this has now been applied by the JP.  

Western Cape Minister of Human Settlements, Tertuis Simmers, said: “Acceding to our proposal,  as  was supported  by the SAHRC too,  is a reasonable decision by the Judge President, which we’re grateful for. This means by which to resolve the apparent deadlock will in our view achieve a more fiscally prudent, practical and timeous result. It saves all the parties in this matter both time and money and is in the interests of Justice too.

We now look forward to judgement in this matter by 3 judges in due course.”

Issued by Marcellino Martin,Spokesperson for Minister Tertuis Simmers, 8 December 2020