There is a lot of background detail to this case at the SERI site here.

SERI PRESS RELEASE
30 MARCH 2011

Supreme Court Upholds the Rights of the Poor

SCA criticises “irrational” City of Johannesburg and declares City housing policy unconstitutional

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) today declared the City of Johannesburg’s housing policy irrational, discriminatory and unconstitutional. The SCA directed the City to provide temporary emergency accommodation to approximately 100 desperately poor people living in derelict buildings in Berea, Johannesburg by 1 June 2011. The occupiers stand to be evicted by the owner of the property. They would be rendered homeless without assistance from the City.

The SCA made the declaration in the course of its judgment in City of Johannesburg v Blue Moonlight Properties. In that matter the City was appealing an earlier order of the Johannesburg High Court which directed the City to provide accommodation to the occupiers and declared its refusal to do so unconstitutional. The City appealed that order on the basis that it was only obliged to provide accommodation to people it evicts from properties it considers unsafe.

The SCA, in a powerful judgment written by Navsa JA and Plasket AJA, rejected this proposition stating that the City’s approach

“effectively ties its own hands and renders itself blind to the real plight and homelessness of persons who find themselves in the circumstances of the occupiers. It precludes itself from considering the duties placed on it by the Constitution . . . By drawing [an] irrational and arbitrary distinction, [the City] is effectively putting potentially vast numbers of persons beyond state assistance in the face of an obligation to take positive steps to assist those who, because of their poverty and because of circumstances beyond their control, find themselves in dire need.”

The SCA stated that the City was directly obliged to prevent homelessness, using rate-payers’ money if needed. It stated that the occupiers “in their humble way” contribute “to the economic lifeblood of the City” and their needs must be catered for.

Teboho Mosikili, an attorney at the Socio-economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI), said “this is a groundbreaking decision. It confirms that the City is under a direct duty to alleviate the plight of the desperately poor and homeless. The City’s irrational attempts to evade its duties have been comprehensively dealt with. SERI hopes that the City will respect the decision and ensure its prompt implementation”.

The City was also ordered to pay the occupiers’ legal costs in the High Court and in the SCA.

The occupiers were represented in court by Paul Kennedy SC, Heidi Barnes and SERI’s director of litigation, Stuart Wilson. The Centre for Applied Legal Studies Litigation Unit at the Wits Law Clinic were the occupiers’ attorneys.

Contact:
Teboho Mosikili, Attorney at SERI: teboho@seri-sa.org / 072 248 2199 Kate Tissington, Research and Advocacy Officer at SERI: kate@seri-sa.org / 072 220 9125