Illegally Evicted Inner City Occupiers Win High Court Appeal

Press Release, 3 December 2010
Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI)

ILLEGALLY EVICTED INNER CITY OCCUPIERS WIN HIGH COURT APPEAL
Owner, security company and police chief held in contempt of court

On 3 December 2010, a full bench of the Johannesburg High Court reversed the illegal eviction of over 253 desperately poor people from Chung Hua Mansions, a building in Jeppe Street in inner city Johannesburg.

In a unanimous judgment, Claassen J, Blieden J and Ngalwana AJ found that the occupiers were in “peaceful and undisturbed possession of the property” when they were evicted without a court order on 9 August 2010. They also held the owners of the property (Changing Tides Properties), one of its agents (Hoosein Mahomed), the security company that carried out the eviction (SNG Security), one of its agents (Donnovan Reed), as well as the Station Commander of Johannesburg Central Police Station, in contempt of court. The court sentenced these respondents to a R100 000 fine, suspended for 20 years on condition that they not evict the occupiers from their homes without a court order during that time.

The respondents had claimed in court papers that the occupiers had spontaneously and voluntarily vacated their homes “without being asked to do so”. This claim was, according to the judges, “quite fanciful, palpably impalusible and far-fetched.” Rather, the judges found that the occupiers had been forcibly evicted from the building and in the process many had sustained physical injuries and were rendered homeless.

The occupiers’ application to reverse the eviction was dismissed by Maluleke J in the Johannesburg High Court on 26 August 2010. The occupiers, represented by SERI, launched an appeal against this decision which was heard on 1 December.

According to Teboho Mosikili, attorney for the occupiers, “the judgment vindicates the rights of the occupiers of Chung Hua Mansions and affirms that owners, private security companies and police officials cannot take the law into their own hands when it comes to evicting poor people. Unlawful evictions are an unfortunately common occurrence in inner city of Johannesburg, which is undergoing a process of gentrification with no affordable, decent accommodation available to poor people currently living there.” Mosikili further stated that he was pleased that “the court has seen through the farcical claims by the owner that the occupiers had voluntarily left the building, and has shown that in fact this case was fundamentally about 253 poor men, women, and children who were forcibly removed from their homes without a court order, in flagrant violation of the Constitution.”

“It is the police’s active involvement in this unlawful eviction which is most deplorable. The police are supposed to protect and advance the rule of law – not assist in flouting it. Unfortunately, police complicity in violent and illegal evictions of desperately poor and vulnerable people is a regular occurrence. We hope that the contempt order granted by the court will bring this to an end.”

The occupiers were represented in court by Advocates Matthew Chaskalson SC, Irene de Vos and Stuart Wilson.

Contact:

Teboho Mosikili, attorney at SERI: teboho@seri-sa.org / 072 248 2199

Kate Tissington, researcher at SERI: kate@seri-sa.org / 072 220 9125