The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has found that the City of Cape Town could counter-spoliate when homeless people invade its unoccupied land.
The matter also involves the Housing Assembly, the EFF, and Bulelani Qolani. Qolani is the man who was dragged naked during the dramatic eviction, as respondents.
The judgment was passed down four years after the City of Cape Town acted on land invaders. It instructed the Anti-Land Invasion Unit (ALIU) to demolish any shelter structures belonging to people who invaded the municipality’s unoccupied land.
Homeless people illegally occupied land during Covid-19 pandemic in SA
The homeless people were removed between April and July 2020. This was at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa. Their belongings were also destroyed.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) approached the Western Cape High Court. This was in an effort to interdict the city from evicting the land occupiers.
This matter was divided into Part A and Part B. In Part A, the City of Cape Town was interdicted and restricted from removing the informal settlers from their land. It was also interdicted from destroying their belongings pending the conclusion of the second part.
In Part B, the High Court concluded that the evictions and structure demolitions were unlawful. It also ruled that this was unconstitutional.
SCA ruled against the unlawful occupation of city’s land
The SCA found that the people were attempting to occupy the land while others were still building structures. Some of these structures allegedly had no doors, windows, or roofs.
“The city was able to counter spoliation. And this was the only means at its disposal to save the property from being unlawfully occupied. Any undertaking in the form requested by the applicants will result in the city not being able to counter-spoliate.
“This is tantamount to giving the applicants free reign to unlawfully occupy the property while the city’s hands are tied. Had the city not counter-spoliated, more land would have been lost to the city,” reads the document in part.
The SCA concluded that counter-spoliation was part of South African law. And that the municipality, as a sphere of government, could counter-spoliate. It can do so in a case where its land is being illegally invaded.
“In the result, the following order issues: the appeal is dismissed with costs. Including the costs of two counsel where so employed,” reads the judgment.
