Evicted families allowed to return to informal settlement
The Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) has ordered the City of Ekurhuleni to allow around 570 people and their families to return to the N12 informal settlement in Benoni, and that temporary structures be built for them, pending any court appeals.
In June, Judge Stuart Wilson granted interim relief to the affected families who had been unlawfully evicted from the informal settlement in May, reports News24.
In a scathing judgment, Wilson found that the city, its mayor, city manager, Minister of Police and the Minister of Defence had committed a series of flagrant violations of the occupiers’ constitutional rights.
Following the interim relief order, the city sought leave to appeal against the judgment, arguing that the relief sought was final in nature.
Leave to appeal was subsequently dismissed in July this year, with Wilson finding that the municipality was mistaken in its interpretation of the order, which has no final effect.
The city has since petitioned the SCA directly to hear its appeal.
The SA Human Rights Commission, representing the affected families, approached the court looking for a declarator that the interim relief is not suspended pending any application for leave to appeal.
Wilson broached the respondents’ conduct in this application, noting that their primary argument for leave to appeal was that the relief was final, yet opposing this litigation, the argument became that the interim order had no final effect; that the interim order was not suspended by the applications for leave to appeal; and accordingly, that the interim execution application was misconceived.
According to News24, he said the city’s counsel could not explain the position but conceded the contradiction.
‘On the face of things, the point that the interim order does not have final effect was contrived merely to wrong-foot the interim execution application. If this was the stratagem, it was profoundly unethical, and the municipality’s legal representatives misconducted themselves in pursuing it,’ Wilson added, saying he could not say what form the misconduct might have taken.
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.
