Wolwerivier ruled ‘suitable’
THE Constitutional Court says the city’s Wolwerivier development, referred to by activists as a human dumping ground, offers constitutionally suitable alternative accommodation.
Yesterday, the court ordered the City to secure five housing units for former employees of a local brick manufacturing business in Wolwerivier following their eviction from a farm they had been staying on.
They had strongly rejected the City’s offer, charging that accommodation at Wolwerivier was unacceptable due to the distance they would have to travel from their workplaces and the children’s school.
Wolwerivier is 30km from the city centre. But acting constitutional court Judge Cynthia Pretorius said: “The applicants’ concerns about what made the initial accommodation ill-suited have been addressed by the City to the best of its abilities. Cognisant that the duty is one of progressive realisation, I accept that the housing units at Wolwerivier qualify as suitable alternative accommodation, which is provided by the City within ‘its available resources’.”
The City said: “It (Constitutional Court) has found that the City’s Wolwerivier development offers constitutionally suitable alternative accommodation.”
The former employees of the brick manufacturing business located on the farm Muldersvlei, owned by Claytile (Pty) Ltd, were allowed to stay on the farm for the duration of their employment.
They received written notices in 2012 to vacate the property, but they had continued residing on the farm.
The owners successfully obtained an eviction order in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court in 2013.
The decision as set out in the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (Esta) was upheld by the Land Claims Court. Lawyers for Human Rights representing the employees said: “Most disappointing about the judgment is that the court considered accommodation some 30 kilometres away from the existing place of residence as reasonable.
“The relocation to the Wolwerivier relocation camp inevitably makes it impossible for the occupiers in this case to access job opportunities.”