Living in constant anticipation of another court sanctioned eviction, Andries Joostenberg has vowed to stand firm and resist being thrown off the land he has called home for 50 years. Photo by Daneel Knoetze.
5 September 2014
Andries Joostenberg, the retired farmworker who was evicted along with his family from a farmhouse in which they had lived for 26 years, has applied for urgent leave to appeal the court order which legalised the eviction. Papers were filed by family lawyer Johan van der Merwe in the Land Claims Court (LCC) on Wednesday.
In the papers, Van der Merwe requests that, should the court grant leave to appeal, the Joostenberg’s home be restored and that they be allowed to occupy it pending the outcome of the appeal.
After a period of bitter resistance, the Joostenbergs were finally evicted from their home on Langdam-in-Koo last month. At this second eviction, farm owner Raymond Charles ordered that the house’s roof and windows be removed to discourage the family from reoccupying.
Since then, the family has relied on the charity of a neighbouring farm owner who made a guesthouse temporarily available to the family. Andries and his wife, Lea Joostenberg, were not available when contacted by GroundUp this week. Their granddaughter, 19-year-old Itha Seherie, said on Friday that the family’s deadline for leaving the guesthouse was the next day.
“We are struggling, but the news from the lawyer has come as a blessing,” she said.
“In the meantime my grandparents have negotiated with another farmer and we can put up a little wendy house there while we wait to hear from the court. It has been very difficult for us - especially the uncertainty of our future - but we remain hopeful that we can have our home back again.”
In his affidavit to the court, Van Der Merwe notes that Joostenberg was not notified of his right to appeal the eviction order when his family was put out for the first time in July this year. Van der Merwe goes on to stress that Joostenberg and his family have no suitable, alternative accommodation and the appeal needs to be heard urgently.
Van der Merwe also notes that the LCC did not give reasons for upholding the eviction order granted in the Montagu Magistrates Court. He argues that the Magistrates Court, in granting the order, failed to evaluate the evidence before it and to give sufficient rights to Joostenberg as a “long term occupier” of the farm. The Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA), according to which the eviction order was granted, ensures life-long habitation rights for farm tenants over the age of 60 who have lived on the land for more than ten years. Joostenberg qualifies for this right.
Ludwig Terblanche, Langdam’s lawyer, said that they would oppose the application and have sent documents to the Land Claims Court and Van der Merwe already.