Residents name settlement “Bobani Village” after Nelson Mandela Bay mayor By Thamsanqa Mbovane A freeze on evictions has prompted hundreds of families to move onto open land in KwaNobuhle, Uitenhage, which they have named “Bobani Village” after Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Mongameli Bobani. Residents say they moved because they are tired of renting houses or living in overcrowded houses. According to the municipality, about...

Over 4,000 people now occupy privately owned land in Schulphoek By Thembela Ntongana Over 200 people occupying private land in Schulphoek, Hermanus, picketed outside the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday, where eviction proceedings have been brought against them by the owners of the land, Cape Theme Parks and Cavcor. The case was postponed to 18 June to give time for the...

“It’s not an easy life but I have to do it to support my family back home” By Zoë Postman A community of waste pickers in Centurion are no longer facing eviction, at least not immediately. The Pretoria High Court has told the waste pickers, the City of Tshwane, and the owners of the property the waste pickers are living on to...

Pretoria High Court says application lacks merit and orders army to pay costs By Kimberly Mutandiro The Pretoria High Court on Friday dismissed an application for leave to appeal by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and ordered the army to comply with previous court orders to accommodate evicted Marievale residents. The residents were forcefully evicted from their homes in the Marievale military base by the...

Two Salt River families win cases against property owner By Wilmien Wicomb Zubeida Hendricks is 81 years old. She has lived on Goldsmith Street in Salt River, Cape Town, for 51 years. She shares the house with her son, his wife and two children. In January 2017, her landlord informed her that he was intending to maintain the property and therefore needed her...

Municipality has missed deadline to find accommodation for Hillbrow residents, but Johannesburg official says backlog is the fault of past administrations By Zoë Postman “It’s difficult because we are living in fear … most of us have children and at any moment we could be evicted and left on the street,” says Thulisile Ngubane, 40, a resident of Hillbrow, Johannesburg. Ngubane lives with...

More than 50 tenants of a derelict building in Hillbrow have taken their landlord to the Constitutional Court. When can a landlord evict law-abiding tenants in order to effect refurbishments? And when can a landlord evict tenants for this reason on an urgent basis? These two questions are currently before the Constitutional Court in an application for leave to appeal...

Kanana families want to be housed on site By Phathiswa Shushwana Some residents of Kanana informal settlement in Gugulethu are refusing to move to a new R1.1 billion development in Forest Village. The residents say they were told in a community meeting by ward councillor Bongani Ngcombolo in October that they must move to houses in Forest Village in Eersteriver to make way...

King Sibiya of the Lungelo Lethu Human Rights Foundation has gone to court in a case that will have implications for home-owners struggling to pay their bonds. By Ciaran Ryan 16 August 2018 A landmark case to decide how banks should deal with home repossessions will be heard on 28 and 29 August in the South Gauteng High Court. This follows a directive by...