A Johannesburg-based NGO has filed an eleventh-hour notice opposing the City of Cape Town’s court application for evictions at various unlawful occupations in the Cape Town CBD.

The case was supposed to be heard in the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday to consider granting a final eviction order, but it has now been delayed until early October.

The Social Economic Rights Institute (SERI) said it received instructions from the occupiers to act on their behalf to oppose the eviction, so they were not rendered homeless.

A senior attorney at SERI, Khululiwe Bhengu, said: “We filed a notice of intention to oppose as soon as our instructions were confirmed, and we went to court today [Wednesday] for the matter to be removed from the unopposed roll, and we agreed on filing timelines with the City’s attorneys.”

Bhengu added the occupiers, as litigants, were entitled by law to oppose the case and to bring it before the court.

“The City knows that, and that is why there was a section 4[2] application. The occupiers opposed it as soon as they were able to get legal representation.

“The delay in filing the notice to oppose was due to their inability to get legal representation earlier. As indigent people, legal representation is not readily available to them all the time.

“As stated, the filing timelines were agreed to by both parties to ensure the proper adjudication of this matter,” she said.

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis added the City was disappointed at the extremely late notice to oppose.

“With the court roll so full, a late filing such as this not only wastes state resources but causes severe delays in the hearing of the matter.

“In the City’s view, the net effect of this will be to keep people on the streets much longer through the Cape winter,” he said.

Hill-Lewis added the City remained of the view that no person had the right to reserve a public space as exclusively theirs.

“Our city’s public places serve important social and community purposes and must be open and available for all.

“Illegal occupations of City open spaces impact the safety of traffic and pedestrians, as well as local businesses critical to growing the economy. Accepting social assistance to get off the streets is the best choice for dignity, health, and well-being,” he said.

In February, the court granted the City an interim order for eviction notices to be served at unlawful occupation hotspots along Buitengracht Street, FW de Klerk Boulevard, Foregate Square, Taxi Rank and Foreshore, Helen Suzman Boulevard, Strand Street, Foreshore/N1, Virginia Avenue and Mill Street Bridge in the city.

Over the last few years, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and national lockdown, the number of destitute residents has increased.

Cape Town CBD has specifically seen a sharp increase in homeless people sleeping rough.

ALSO READ: City to add 330 more shelter beds, two new Safe Spaces to help homeless off streets

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