Property developers lose case to evict pensioners

IN A David versus Goliath battle, two 71-year-old pensioners have trumped a property development company that wanted to evict them to build a luxury development in Fairlands.

Acting Judge Paul Carstensen of the South Gauteng High Court ruled yesterday that Lesiba Matlaila and his family in Wilson Street could not be evicted by All Building and Cleaning Services, a property development company.

He dismissed the company’s application with costs.

Matlaila had lived and worked on the property, where the original owner had cultivated fruit and farmed livestock, for 44 years. The owner died several years ago.

In April 2013, attempts were made to remove the roof of the Matlaila’s home.

The occupiers had asked All Building and Cleaning Services to allow them to live on a small portion of the property, or to accommodate them in the redevelopment. It refused.

Judge Carstensen said the onus was on the company to show the couple’s eviction would be just and equitable, but found it had “not made any serious attempt to satisfy this onus”. The respondents, he said, would “clearly be left homeless”, if evicted.

Nomzamo Zondo, an attorney at the Socio-Economic Rights Institute, who acted for the residents, said it is a ground-breaking case. “It is very unusual for a court to refuse to grant an eviction order to a private owner on just and equitable grounds,” she said.

“This case serves as a warning that property developers must treat poor people who they find living on newly-purchased land with dignity.”