Eden Park eviction order unjust: Supreme Court of Appeal

It would not be just and equitable to order the eviction of residents of Eden Park Extension Five, on the East Rand, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday.

The SCA upheld a decision by the High Court in Johannesburg that the Ekurhuleni municipality and the Gauteng housing department had failed to satisfy the test of just and equitable to secure an eviction order.

The SCA held that the municipality and the department may have been in breach of their constitutional and legislative obligations to provide adequate housing. It found the two authorities had displayed uncertainty and confusion as to who was to be evicted.

The full Bench held that despite this, and while the position of the respondents was no doubt desperate, their conduct in illegally occupying the housing development could not be countenanced.

However it did not tip the scales against the residents in favour of an eviction order.

The Gauteng housing department went to court in June 2011 for an order to evict people who had illegally occupied 900 RDP houses. The department said it had a programme to build 2408 houses, but the project was derailed by people illegally occupying some of the houses.

At the time, Gauteng housing MEC Humphrey Mmemezi said he planned to evict the families illegally occupying the dwellings.

Mmemezi said the rightful beneficiaries of Eden Park, whose houses were hijacked, would have their houses given back to them. It was unfair to deny the rightful owners their homes, he said.