No plan yet for Cape Town families facing eviction

In a landmark judgment nearly two months ago, the Constitutional Court ruled that the residents of Bromwell Street must be provided with emergency accommodation in Woodstock, Salt River or the inner city. Photo: Matthew Hirsch

Nearly two months after a landmark judgment by the Constitutional Court, residents of Bromwell Street in Cape Town are stuck in limbo.

Six cottages in the street in Woodstock were bought by a property developer in 2013. The City offered the residents facing eviction alternative accommodation in areas such as Wolwerivier, far from the schools, places of work and facilities the residents were using. The legal battle commenced in 2016.

In December last year, the apex court ruled that the City should provide emergency accommodation in Woodstock, Salt River or the inner city, as close to Bromwell Street as possible.

The judgment said evictions may not take place until such time as a reasonable temporary emergency accommodation policy was developed and implemented.

The Bromwell residents – including pensioners and children – celebrated the court ruling after their eight-year-long legal battle.

More than 20 people are currently staying in the cottages.

Charnell Commando said they have been there for generations. “Our children can play in the park here, we know where they are. It’s one big community.”

Disha Govender, head of Ndifuna Ukwazi law centre (which represented the residents), said the residents are “increasingly concerned” about what emergency or transitional housing will actually be provided.

Govender said the City had not yet “proactively engaged with us regarding the progress they are making”.

On Friday, the City briefed Parliament’s portfolio committee on human settlements. It said municipal housing delivery is already under severe budgetary pressure and the City will not be able to continue on an “unfunded mandate basis”.

Responding to GroundUp, mayco member for human settlements Carl Pophaim said the Bromwell relocation site is “still under discussion”.

He said the metro lacked land and “national grant cuts have had a big impact”. There are currently some 30,000 people in the metro who are subject to private evictions.

“A municipality on its own … cannot solve a national housing crisis,” he said.

He said the apex court had not addressed “in any meaningful way” the situation municipalities find themselves in.

He said the City’s legal team would contact the Bromwell residents to review their personal circumstances.

Gentrification, he said, is an “effect of market forces,” not the policy of the City.

Tsekiso Machike, spokesperson to the minister for human settlement, said the national department is providing support to the City.

Charnell Commando after hearing that the Constitutional Court ruling in December. “They (the authorities) have no idea what an eviction case really means,” she said. “The pressure, the stress, not knowing where you are going, what is going to happen, or are your things going to be thrown out on the streets.” Archive photo: Matthew Hirsch

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