The City of Johannesburg has once again suffered a setback in its efforts to proceed with a mixed housing development to de-densify informal settlements in the Greater Ivory Park area, as the properties earmarked for this project are being occupied by more than 250 homeless people.

The City and the occupiers of the land have been embroiled over the years in numerous legal applications – some brought by the City and others by the occupiers who want to be left alone. Both parties have scored minor victories over the years, but the fight for the land is still continuing.

In the latest legal tussle, the City turned to the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, to obtain an urgent eviction order against these homeless people. In this latest ruling, the court said while those occupying the land are clearly frustrating the housing development, it reminded the City that these people also have rights.

Judge Leicester Adams dismissed the urgent application in terms of the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act (PIE Act). The Judge said the City can bring an ordinary eviction application in due course.

He said the potential harm to be suffered by the City if the relief sought by it is not granted, pales into insignificance, if one considers the fate of these 250 or more individuals.

The City is the owner of the property, which is two pieces of land situated adjacent to Freedom Drive, between Modderfontein and Strandloper Roads, in Rabie Ridge. The stands are between formal stands in Rabie Ridge, which comprises low-cost housing – not funded by public funds but through mortgage bonds by banks, and an informal settlement known as K60.

The development earmarked for the land in question will cater for community members within the Greater Ivory Park area who are eligible for specified housing opportunities.

The homeless, however, over the years have occupied the land. The City had from time to time demolished their shacks, but the homeless obtained orders for it to be restored.

In the latest legal bid, the City argued that if they are not granted orders, on an urgent basis, for the eviction of the respondents (the occupiers), its plans to develop the mixed housing on these properties will be derailed.

The respondents, on the other hand, said that they would be rendered homeless if evicted from the property.

Judge Adams did not accept the submission by the City that because the land in question is not yet serviced and there is no water and electricity, that this amounts  to “real and imminent danger” if the unlawful occupiers are not forthwith evicted from the land.

He said they have been living there – on and off – for some years and there have not been any major disasters during this time.

“I also cannot accept, as a fact, without more the allegation by the applicant that there are threats of violence and ongoing criminality on the properties. How, I ask rhetorically, is this different from everyday life in South Africa?” the judge said.

He added that it is regrettable that the respondents seemingly are the ones who took the law into their own hands by occupying the property earmarked for a housing development project, which would benefit the community as a whole.

However, he concluded, although they are jumping the queue, this in and of itself does not warrant this court’s intervention in terms of the PIE Act.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za

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