Judge slams unlawful demolition of shacks
The Stellenbosch Municipality has been ordered to return building materials to the owners of an informal structure after the Western Cape High Court found the demolition of the structure, in Lanquedoc, unlawful.
A Cape Times report says a group of people had illegally settled on the land in 2020, and the municipality then instructed law enforcement to dismantle the structures – in the absence of a court order.
The illegally occupied land, valued at R44m, is registered in the name of the Dwars River Valley Community Development Trust.
According to the information contained in the judgment, the trust wanted to sell the land to the municipality, which was unable to afford it at that price.
Following a number of talks, the municipal law enforcement officers – helped by the Red Ants and the SAPS public order policing unit – demolished structures believed to be ‘unoccupied’.
Judge Ashley Binns-Ward said the ‘matter is not without its ironies’.
‘For the most part, it concerns an application by or on behalf of a group of persons who took the law into their own hands’.
According to the Cape Times report, Binns-Ward added that it was ‘a regrettable attitude for an organ of state to adopt in litigation in which it is alleged that it has been guilty of a breach of a person’s fundamental human rights. It is an attitude that is inconsistent with the culture of openness and accountability that is an integral aspect of the state’s duty to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights in the Bill of Rights.’
He said the ‘inexorable conclusion was that Nyakombi and Konco (two of the applicants) were in peaceful and undisturbed possession of the structure at the time it was demolished, and had been for three weeks.
‘It follows that on the peculiar facts of the current case there was no lawful basis for the municipality to demolish the structure without a court order, even if its officials were reasonably of the opinion that it was unoccupied at the time. Nyakombi and Konco are entitled to the return of the materials with which their demolished structure was constructed. The municipality has tendered that. The same does not apply to their application for an order that the structure be reconstructed,’ Binns-Ward ordered.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
