Victory for Steenvilla tenants
‘Right now I’m grateful, because I’ll be able to sleep in peace’
TENANTS of Steenvilla housing complex who were facing eviction have claimed victory after the Western Cape High Court ordered that their imminent evictions be stopped.
About 22 families at the complex had been facing eviction since March.
This was after a successful court application by owners of the complex, the Sohco housing company. But no reasons had been provided for that order.
Sohco opposed the tenants’ application in the high court on the basis that they had little prospect of succeeding with their appeal.
However, the court ordered that affected tenants be permitted to proceed with their urgent application and that pending finalisation of the application for leave to appeal, and any prospective appeal, the respondent (being Sohco Property Investments NPC) is barred from proceeding with the scheduled evictions.
Overjoyed tenant Thabisa Magadla said: “They (authorities) are now listening to us and giving us an ear. Right now I’m grateful, because I’ll be (able) to sleep in peace and not wait for some people to come and evict me in the middle of the night. That’s what they do when they come unexpectedly.”
The tenants’ legal representative, Rafeek Hendricks, assisted by attorneys Kurt Allen and Ross Wynne, said the ruling by Judge Derek Wille had wider implications for tenants elsewhere, besides the Steenvilla complex.
Last month, enraged tenants of the Steenvilla barricaded a section of Military Road with burning tyres, wheelie bins and rubbish after an eviction order was issued against them. Police had fired rubber bullets and used stun-grenades to disperse the group of about 200 residents.
The unrest was sparked after residents were ordered to vacate the properties because some of them owed rent and had owed the amounts for some time.
“If judges don’t give reasons for their judgment, it’s grounds for us to bring an application to stay legal proceedings for evictions. In effect, it means the evictions are stopped,” said Hendricks.
Hendricks said he had replaced the tenants’ former legal representative after he failing to demand reasons for the March 31 order.
He said the previous representative had also failed to apply for leave to appeal.
Hendricks said because tenants wanted to appeal, it had been necessary to approach the court for an appropriate order, which automatically suspended the eviction order and preserve the residents’ rights.
If Sohco’s court application had been successful yesterday, they would have been able to go ahead with their planned evictions of the 22 tenants on Monday, September 4, according to Hendricks.
“The next step in this litigation is to proceed with the application to appeal, as well as any prospective appeal, so as to ensure that the affected residents of the villa (Steenvilla) are not rendered homeless.”