Department in court on land grabs

Human Settlements, council to fight Abahlali

ON FRIDAY, the Durban High Court will be the battleground for the eThekwini Municipality and the provincial Department of Human Settlements who are expected to argue against the interim order obtained by Abahlali baseMjondolo being made final.

The shack dwellers’ movement was granted an interim interdict in July, preventing the municipality from evicting any of its named applicants from seven informal settlements in Durban without a court order.

The city was also prevented from demolishing, destroying and burning people’s property. It had to allow reconstruction of homes that were demolished to take place.

For the past few weeks, there have been several protests in Bonela, Cato Manor and Mariannridge over land, evictions and housing. The municipality’s land invasion unit had still been deployed to demolish shacks in these areas.

This past week, the department filed an urgent application against Abahlali, dealing specifically with the Bonela area adjacent to Blinkbonnie Road. This area forms a “green lung” for an established residential community.

The department sought permission to:

take reasonable measures to prevent the clearing of vegetation on this land for the purposes of erecting dwellings;

remove building materials placed on the property;

dismantle any dwelling structure that has not yet been occupied on the property and remove building material recovered on the area next to Blinkbonnie Road.

However, in court the de- partment was told it would have to argue its case along with the municipality on Friday.

Mduduzi Zungu, the department’s chief operations officer, said the department did not want to interfere with the existing dwellings and occupation on the property.

“The applicant (the department) seeks only to prevent further development of the site as an informal settlement,” said Zungu in his affidavit.

He said Abahlali had obtained an interim order against the city, its mayor and municipal manager and that the department was not cited in the application.

Zungu also said of the seven informal settlements Abahlali was granted an interim interdict for, the land on which three of the settlements were based was under the department’s control and the sixth property was on private land. This landowner was also not cited as a respondent in Abahlali’s application.

“I respectfully submit that the applicant (the department) has clear right to prevent new invasions taking place on its property. Indeed, the applicant has an obligation to the citizens of the Republic to safeguard public space, and also to community members in surrounding areas to ensure that invasions in an unregulated matter do not take place,” said Zungu in court papers.

Zungu said the area was unsuitable for human habitation because of its steep gradient. It also had no amenities.

He further argued that once occupation of land had taken place, there was inevitably damage to the property in question where the vegetation was removed making it more susceptible to further invasions.

After land occupation, he said the department and the city would then become obliged to provide housing through alternative accommodation when seeking to evict the unlawful occupiers. While they obliged, Zungu explained this then affected their housing plan.

“In particular, individuals that have patiently awaited their turn on housing lists have to be removed from those housing lists in order to accommodate parties who have not waited and by invading property have secured a benefit for themselves.” Zungu also referred to public order being affected when communities objected to occupiers joining the area, which he said had happened in this case.

After hearing that both the city and the department would be opposing the interdict, S’bu Zikode, Abahlali chairperson, said the department had failed in court last week and felt that those protected by the interim order were safe and had shelter.

“They have occupied land in order to have a place to live. When the shacks are destroyed, the materials are burnt.The situation in Cato Manor is getting out of hand because the ANC does not want to respect the processes of the law. Those who consider us as the third force must realise that we are fighting for justice for the poor and the oppressed,” he said.

Zikode said they represented people who were already residents on the property. A list of names, he said, was given to the court for those currently on the land and who must not be evicted.