The City of Johannesburg will not be able to meet the Constitutional Court’s requirement to provide alternative accommodation to people evicted from illegally occupied buildings, because it simply does not have enough space. According to a Mail & Guardian Online report, Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba said: ‘At the moment, we don’t have the capacity to accommodate people who would still be evicted.’

The Socio-economic Rights Institute (Seri) confirmed this, saying its research has found that all the available sites for alternative accommodation are currently full. The City of Johannesburg, along with every municipality in SA, is facing a formidable task: a judgment by the Constitutional Court two weeks ago means that local government will feel increasing pressure to provide alternative temporary accommodation for evictees who would otherwise be homeless.

‘It’s possible, but it depends on whether municipalities plan. There needs to be a realistic plan in place and I do think it’s possible,’ Seri’s director of research and advocacy, Lauren Royston, said. Mashaba admitted that the city did not know how to find accommodation for evictees. But he said the judgment was only a ‘minor setback’ that would be resolved while his inner-city plans were being formalised.

Full report on the Mail & Guardian Online site