City must re-serve eviction notice to Khayelitsha residents

Residents living in Newcastle Informal Settlement in Khayelitsha will soon be issued with new eviction notices. Photo by Barbara Maregele.

Western Cape High Court Judge Babalwa Mantame has instructed the City of Cape Town to “re-serve” the eviction order granted against Newcastle Informal Settlement residents.

The group has been living on the land directly behind the Endlovini informal settlement in Khayelitsha since May 2014. The residents insist the city did not comply with an eviction order granted last year by Western Cape High Court Judge Thandazwa Ndita and want to have the eviction declared invalid.

See Khayelitsha residents challenge eviction.

Newcastle eviction timetable

Residents move onto the land around May 2014.
City of Cape Town goes to court to evict the group of residents July/August 2014.
City is granted an eviction order by High Court Judge Ndita in August 2014.
Residents refuse to move and seek legal advice in early 2015.
Advocate representing the residents files papers opposing the eviction and challenging the City’s compliance with the PIE Act in July 2015.
This case was meant to be heard on 26 August 2015, but both parties agreed to postpone for the City to file its papers.
Judge Mantame then orders the City to “re-serve” the eviction notice as stated in the initial eviction order granted in 2014.
The case is expected to be heard in High Court on 9 November 2015.

The residents were issued with a notice of eviction by the City last year. Represented by Advocate Ashraf Mahomed, they are arguing that the City did not comply properly with a previous court order granting the eviction.

The matter will be heard on 9 November.

It was set to be heard in the High Court on Wednesday 26 August but legal teams for both parties privately met in the Judge Mantame’s chambers and agreed to postpone the matter.

In his draft order, delivered on Friday 28 August, Judge Mantame has given the residents until 9 October to file their counter application and the City until 22 October to file its heads of argument.