Johnny Isaacs turned his back on civilisation, but 30 years later it is back to haunt him.
The disabled 62-year-old pensioner says he is being hounded out of the Cape Town forest he has called home for half his life.
The City of Cape Town wants to evict Isaacs and nine family members from Blaauwberg Nature Reserve, 25km from the CBD, where they sustain themselves by cutting down alien Port Jackson and selling it for firewood.
The city bought the property in 2010 and incorporated it into the nature reserve. It claims the family is there illegally and poses a threat to endangered plants and animals.When negotiations to relocate Isaacs failed, the city hauled him before the high court in March. But Isaacs, who enjoys a tranquil rural life with unobstructed views of Table Mountain, is not going without a fight.
He recently won a skirmish in the High Court in Cape Town, overturning an order authorising the family's eviction, but more litigation is on the cards.
Isaacs claims two previous owners of the land gave him permission to live there. He said he paid for his stay by looking after the property.
Crippled by arthritis, he propped himself on crutches this week as he explained the strife and uncertainty the city council's actions had caused his family, and said he was relying on pro bono lawyers."I hope to stay here, I don't want us to move. I am worried about crime in other areas. People get killed on a daily basis out there."
The couple's daughter, Jane Williams, 29, has taken over the wood-cutting business, and makes about R800 each weekend. "I am disappointed," she said. "I don't know how life will be like if we are moved."
The family is unfazed by not having running water or electricity. They fetch water from Atlantis, about 30km away.
Ettienne Kyler, the nature reserve's biodiversity co-ordinator, said in court papers the reserve contained more than 1,400ha of "rich biodiversity" and threatened vegetation.
He described Isaacs' home as dilapidated and unsafe, with gaping cracks in the walls and broken doors and windows. He said the family's livestock, including horses, dogs, geese, goats and chickens, posed a risk to the reserve's wild animals and vegetation.
"The reserve includes coastal archaeological sites, shell middens and artefact scatters associated with indigenous groups living in the area in the last 2000 years, the remains of historical farms, and infrastructure associated with World War 2, including a lookout and the first locally built radar station," Kyler said in an affidavit.
"It is the location of the Battle of Blaauwberg [1806], a significant international event which altered the history of the Cape."
Brett Herron, the mayoral committee member for urban planning, said Isaacs had refused the city's offer of alternative accommodation which was about "5km as the crow flies from the reserve".He said the council wanted to provide the family with three residential units at Wolwerivier, each fitted with a toilet, prepaid electricity meter and running water, as well as an area to keep animals. He said the offer still stood.
"The city is currently considering the legal avenues available to it, including bringing a fresh eviction application given the state of disrepair of the homestead, the conservation status of the reserve and the risks being posed to the reserve as a result of the continued occupation of the premises."
Judge: Solution before eviction
Organs of state should ensure that the eviction of vulnerable and indigent people is done with an abiding reverence to the constitutional values of human dignity, equality and freedom. Before an eviction is pursued by an organ of state, there should be [attempts to find] an amicable solution. – Acting Judge Thabani Masuku, September 2017..