Judgment has been reserved in a matter where three landowners are seeking relief from thousands of illegal occupants in Philippi on the Cape Flats. A Weekend Argus report says close to 60 000 Marikana informal settlement dwellers – represented by the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of SA – are respondents in the matter where landowners Iris Fischer, Manfred Stock and others, as well as Coppermoon Trading, approached the Western Cape High Court to either evict the occupiers from the land or to grant an order directing the state to purchase the occupied land at market value.

Respondents include the City of Cape Town, the national Ministers of Rural Development and Land Reform, Police and Human Settlements, as well as the MECs of Human Settlements and Community Safety. According to court papers, most of the occupiers are unemployed, and those who are working earn less than R1 500 per month.

The dwellers began occupying the land at different intervals between 2014 and last year, mostly after they were evicted by landlords when they could not afford to pay rent.

In its heads of argument, the institute argued on behalf of the occupiers that the court grant an order requiring the city to consider the expropriation of the land, and the provision of basic shelter and services on it. The city said it had not violated the landowners’ property rights as claimed by them. It argued against an eviction, saying emergency accommodation could not be provided for the occupiers, and eviction from the land would render them homeless.

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