Photo by Daneel Knoetze
Category Archives: Phillipi
Marikana Land Occupation Wins Important Victory in Cape Town High Court
13 March 2014
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
Marikana Land Occupation Wins Important Victory in Cape Town High Court
Today, there was a landmark ruling for our comrades in the Marikana Land Occupation in Cape Town. It will help us and shack dwellers all over South Africa to stop the municipalities' relentless demolitions of poor people’s homes. These demolitions are unconstitutional, illegal and often violent.
We are living in the most challenging times, where Municipalities misuse their powers, as they have done when demolishing people's homes in Marikana settlement in Cape Town on the 28th of April and 02nd of May 2013. It becomes worrying because when this happens, us poor people have nowhere else to go.
Attachments
Judgment in Marikana Land Occupation Case (Cape Town)
Daily Maverick: Analysis: Landmark judgment – what constitutes a home?
http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2014-03-13-analysis-landmark-judgment-what-constitutes-a-home
On Thursday, the Cape High Court ruled in favour of the Marikana occupiers and instructed the City of Cape Town to rebuild the homes they 'unconstitutionally and unlawfully' destroyed on 7 and 8 January. The importance of this landmark ruling, if it is upheld, cannot be overstated. Its impact will reverberate in municipalities throughout the country. Anti-Land Invasion units beware: your operations have now been judged illegal. By JARED SACKS.
The City of Cape Town's official guidelines for the Anti-Land Invasion unit (ALI) defines a 'home' in negative terms:
A structure is not a 'home' until it has been inhabited by a person or persons who reside in the structure with their belongings and intend to continue doing so.