SAPS not responsible for evictions
THE Western Cape High Court hearing into the rights of landowners to remove invaders without a court order has been postponed to next month.
After four days of hearings – one in which a recusal application was brought against Judge Hayley Slingers – the case was adjourned yesterday after argument was heard from the SAPS and the province.
The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), EFF and the Housing Assembly want the court to extend a previous ruling which ordered that the demolition of homes cannot be carried out during the national lockdown.
The case stems from the City’s AntiLand Invasion Unit’s forceful removal of Bulelani Qolani from his shack while he was naked, last year.
Qolani, like thousands of others, became newly homeless due to the Covid-19 pandemic and he joined other backyarders who illegally erected makeshift structures on municipal land in Empolweni, Khayelitsha.
The City, Minister of Human Settlements, SAPS and the Premier’s Office are among the respondents.
One of the City’s arguments is that illegal land invasions are thwarting its efforts to address the housing backlog.
Advocate Renata Williams SC, representing the SAPS, argued that it was not responsible for evictions.
“SAPS can merely assist with the maintenance of law and order during evictions; that is its constitutional mandate. SAPS is not responsible for securing people’s properties, whether it’s a private individual, whether its an organ of state; that is the primary responsibility of the landowner,” Williams said.
Advocate Karrisha Pillay SC, for the province, argued that evictions are deprivations of occupation, while the an order that is being sought is related to unoccupied structures.
“When the court interrogates the question of whether the development of the common law is warranted in this case, the primary consideration that will occupy this court will be what principle or rule of counter-spoliation authorises the eviction of people from occupied and unoccupied structures.”
The matter is expected to resume on November 5.