eThekwini Municipality says it was enforcing illegal occupation by-laws while evicting residents from Lancers Road Building

DURBAN - THE eThekwini Municipality will in March next year get an opportunity to explain to the court why the residents of a “suspect” building on Lancers Road in Durban should not continue to occupy the premises.

The Durban High Court granted an interim court order stopping the eviction of more than 100 families from the building.

On Sunday, the municipality had moved to evict people from the building as they said their occupation was illegal, the building was derelict and some residents were using it for criminal ends.

But an order was granted in the Durban High Court on Sunday night which ordered that the evictions be halted.

The municipality said what happened were not evictions and that it had been acting in accordance with the by-laws against the illegal occupation of buildings.

The property in question belongs to the Department of Health and in the past it was used to accommodate ambulances.

Court papers show that 1 000 people were affected by the evictions. The first applicant in the matter is identified as Siphiwe Khumalo.

The attorney representing the residents, Themba Sibanyoni of Sibanyoni Attorneys, said he could confirm that the order was granted by the high court and that the matter would be going back to court on March 31, 2022.

He said the municipality had not filed its responding papers to state its position on the matter.

Sibanyoni said based on the interim court order, the residents were granted temporary permission to occupy the building without being harassed by the municipality.

City officials have previously raised concerns that illegal occupation of a derelict building poses a serious threat to the municipality as it would be blamed if a tragedy were to strike.

Sibanyoni said if the municipality was genuinely concerned about illegal occupation of the building they should have sought an urgent court order to say the building was unsafe and then provided an alternative address where the residents could be accommodated.

“It is their right, what was unacceptable was seeing a two- or threemonth-old child sleeping outside on the streets,” he said.

In his founding affidavit, Khumalo said he and the other applicants had occupied the property since 2018 and had nowhere else to live.

“We came from different places including Chesterville, uMlazi and

Clermont due to us having no place to stay. Furthermore, the flats we occupied had been vacant for years.

“Most of the occupants of the flats are single mothers with minor children, and about 50% of them are unemployed. Some of the occupants are employed in the city of Durban,” he said.

He said during the evictions, children were left out on the street with their mothers without any shelter.

“All the occupants were taken out and put on the street of Lancers. The eviction process was carried out with force and violence. The evictions affected the children and reduced them to tears,” he said in the affidavit.

Municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the city has not evicted anyone.

“You need a court order to evict anyone. All it (the municipality) did was to enforce its by-laws in a building illegally occupied and not suitable for human settlement. It is opposing any legal action instituted in this regard.

“It is a concern to have buildings that are not suitable for human settlements to be hijacked because in the event a building collapses, lives would be lost,” he said.

THE MERCURY

• High court order prevents eviction of residents living in derelict building deemed to be harbouring criminals in Durban