The Western Cape High Court has postponed an eviction application against a group of alleged illegal occupants of privately-owned land in Stellenbosch. News24 says the parties agreed to the postponement and to a timeline, which sets out when lawyers representing the land owners, the Stellenbosch municipality, the police, and the alleged illegal occupiers should hand in their papers ahead of the hearing of the eviction application.

The land owners' Advocate Lawrie Wilken told Cape Judge President John Hlophe that all parties agreed to the order. Hlophe made the agreement an order of court and the application was postponed to 25 October. The four applicants, Wynand Smith, Pieter Steenkamp, Manie Malan and Esme Smit, applied for the eviction order in their capacities as the trustees of the WS Smit Watergang Trust after people started building shacks on a piece of land the trust owned.

The alleged attempted illegal occupation gained attention in May during an impasse over a temporary relocation camp planned by the Stellenbosch Municipality, which wanted to move blocks of residents from Kayamandi to allow upgrades in the area.

In August, a group of people started building shacks and resisted removal. Since then, a truce over their removal has been called, pending the outcome of the land owners' eviction application.

In terms of an agreement facilitated by the Human Rights Commission, no more shacks should be built on the land.

Full News24 report