The council responsible for evictions in Bredell, Kempton Park, may have failed to comply with the law
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni
The Ekurhuleni Metro Council, formerly the Benoni City Council, appears to have been illegally demolishing shacks and evicting squatters on the East Rand in Johannesburg.
And one of the companies the council hired to evict squatters has decided to no longer do such work because it is “inhumane”.
Officials of the Ekurhuleni Metro Council have been using private companies to evict squatters in Bredell near Kempton Park and in other places on the East Rand without having applied for a court order.
According to the Prevention of Illegal Eviction From and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act, organs of state need to seek a court order before evicting illegal occupiers of state-owed land.
The Ekurhuleni council appears to have failed to comply with the Act. On several occasions the council used a company called ACME Training Academy to evict people without court approval.
Ekurhuleni spokesperson Premilla Hamid confirmed using ACME to evict illegal squatters, but denied the council had failed to follow legal procedures.
“The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Council, Benoni administrative unit, utilised ACME Training for the purposes of evicting people who illegally occupied land in areas within their jurisdiction. Council followed the necessary legal processes in terms of the land invasion Act in any evictions that were undertaken in this area,” Hamid said.
ACME Training Academy spokesperson Dawie Spangenberg said an eviction done by a state organ does not need a court order if it is done within 24 hours of the time shacks were erected.
“The Benoni City Council is the one that identifies illegal structures that are going up and they will ask us to demolish them within 24 hours. We have always worked like that and it is not illegal,” he said. But the Prevention of Illegal Eviction Act does not make any reference to a 24-hour deadline.
Even in cases of urgency, state organs are required by the Act to apply for court orders before evicting squatters. If the government applies for an urgent eviction of squatters the court may grant such an order if it is satisfied that there are real and imminent danger of substantial injury or damage to any person if the unlawful occupier is not evicted from the land.
Spangenberg said his company was given instructions in May by the transport department in Benoni to evict squatters in Bredell. Spangenberg, who charges between R360 and R485 for each structure he demolishes, said his company was called in three times in May to demolish shacks for the council. His company has been evicting squatters on behalf of the Benoni City Council for five years.
Spangenberg said: “Although I believe that our action was legal, issues of time frame and legal matters are dealt with by the council. We only supply people and security to protect those who will be pulling down the shacks.”
He said he is considering abandoning the business of demolishing illegal shacks. “I do not think I want to do this any more. It used to be done in a humane manner and now it looks like it is getting out of hand,” said Spangenberg, adding that he was disappointed about the way shacks were demolished at Bredell last week.
“We believe that shacks should be dismantled properly so that they can be used again. I am sure that everybody will not allow their house to be pulled down by bulldozers. We break down shacks using human hands.”
The Bredell squatters were evicted following a Pretoria High Court ruling.
Lawyers said Spangenberg’s suggestion that the council did not need to apply for a court order for the eviction of illegal squatters if it is within the 24-hour deadline is not true.
“It’s false and it is not even in the Act,” said a Benoni-based lawyer, who asked not to be named. The lawyer said the Ekurhuleni Metro Council should account for its actions and stop hiding behind technicalities.