Johannesburg, 6 May 2008

Jo’burg Taken to Court on Housing for the Poor – Again

On Wednesday 7 May 2008, the Johannesburg High Court will hear an application by 88 desperately poor men women and children for an order requiring the City of Johannesburg to say what it will do to provide them with housing if they are evicted from their homes by a private property developer.

For up to 18 years, the residents have lived in disused industrial and commercial buildings in Saratoga Avenue, Berea. In 2005, a property development company bought the land they were living on. In 2006, the company launched an application for the residents’ eviction.

All of the residents would be rendered homeless if evicted. Because of this, they have brought an application against the City of Johannesburg to compel it to say when and in what circumstances it will provide them with housing – even of a temporary nature – if the property developer is successful in its eviction application.

The City of Johannesburg is opposing the residents’ application on the basis that it has neither the obligation nor the resources to provide accommodation to people evicted from private land.

The residents say that the law is clear. Earlier this year, the Constitutional Court ordered that the City of Johannesburg should re-accommodate 450 desperately poor people it wanted to evict from two building it said were unsafe. In 2004, in the Modder East Squatters case, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that evictions from private land trigger an obligation on municipalities to provide alternative shelter to the poor.

The residents also say that the City has the resources necessary to comply with the law. They say that the City could use some of its R280 million budget surplus to rehouse them. They also point to two fully-funded national housing policies – which provide for the construction of temporary emergency shelter and the upgrading of informal settlements – which the City has not implemented.

Stuart Wilson, Head of the CALS Litigation Unit, said “The Constitution requires that the City respond meaningfully to the needs of the most desperate within its area of jurisdiction. It is unfortunate that the City of Johannesburg has to be dragged into court to be forced to make a plan for our clients. The City seems to be in a state of denial about its obligations to prevent desperately poor men, women and children from becoming homeless.”

Teboho Mosikili, a lawyer acting for the residents, said “The City encourages property purchase and redevelopment in Johannesburg, but is not willing to take responsibility for poor people who stand to be evicted so that property developers can make a profit. We hope that this case will help bring about a more balanced approach to urban development, in which the needs of the poor are taken seriously.”

The residents will be represented in court by Adv. Heidi Barnes of the Johannesburg Bar. The application will be heard by Judge TM Masipa at 9am.

For more information, contact Stuart Wilson on 072 265 8633 or Teboho Mosikili on 072 248 2199.