Jhb evictions wait on court
25/03/2007 19:08  - (SA)  

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Johannesburg - The Supreme Court of Appeal is expected to give judgment on Monday on the planned eviction of about 300 people from six inner-city buildings declared unsafe by the City of Johannesburg.

Johannesburg High Court earlier dismissed the city's eviction-order applications.

The city wants to evict the people from the inner-city properties under the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act (NBRA).

This act enables the city to prevent people under its jurisdiction from living in dangerous conditions.

But, the centre for applied legal studies (Cals) at the University of the Witwatersrand contends that the High Court ruling in March 2006 banned mass evictions of poor people from inner-city buildings without the provision of alternative accommodation.

Would be left homeless

Cals is supporting the residents of the inner-city buildings in their case.

The case concerns four houses on Joel Street in Berea, a multistorey building known as "San José", also in Berea, and a disused panel-beating workshop on Main Street in the city centre.

Residents of these buildings argue that the eviction orders the municipality seeks would effectively render them homeless.

This would be in violation of their constitutionally-guaranteed rights to housing and protection from arbitrary evictions.

A statement by Cals read: "The 300 residents of the properties in the appeal are a small proportion of the estimated 67 000 people living in bad buildings in the Johannesburg inner city."

Stuart Wilson, a researcher at the centre, said much would depend on whether the appeal court ordered the city to provide any form of alternative accommodation for the occupiers of the buildings.

"If it does, the judgment may permanently end evictions without the provision of alternatives in central Johannesburg at the instance of the city council.

"I hope that it does."

Safe environment

The city has contended that it was entitled to evict under the NBRA.

It argued that the evictions would promote general public health in the area, and reverse the inner-city decay it was trying to stop with its Johannesburg inner-city regeneration strategy.

The city contended that it was its constitutional responsibility to promote a safe environment even if it could be socially stressful and potentially antagonistic.

- SAPA

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