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South Africa: Law is no protection from eviction

JOHANNESBURG, 23 September 2008 (IRIN) - Children, the elderly and female-headed households are among the most affected by illegal evictions, according to a report released on 23 September by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).

The report, Public Hearing on Housing, Evictions and Repossessions, found that the evictions came at a time of increasingly difficult economic conditions and a poor understanding by those affected of both the legal and financial systems.

"We are clearly saying to government that when you have discharged your duty to look at the poorest of the poor ? those who do not have houses ? that can't be the end of the road," the report's commissioner, advocate Leon Wessels, said. "It is as important for people to become home owners as it is for them to keep those homes."

In recent years South Africa has enjoyed an unprecedented property boom, but inflationary pressures have seen the central bank steadily increasing interest rates and this in turn has led to banks repossessing the homes of those unable to pay their increased mortgage installments.

The human rights body called on local government to fulfill their legal obligations to protect vulnerable groups such as the elderly, children, disabled persons or households headed by women.

The report's findings were based on public hearings held in 2007, which focused on three communities in eastern Johannesburg, although SAHRC representatives said many of the issues presented in the report held true through-out South Africa.

Protect the poor

Speaking at the report's launch, Phineas Malapela of the Anti-Privatisation Forum, an umbrella body advocating the rights of the poor, recounted the experiences of people in Sebokeng, a township about 100 kilometres southewest of Johannesburg.

"We have people that are sick with HIV/AIDS, people in wheelchairs being thrown out in the street, but the municipality will say, 'It's a bought house, there is nothing we can do,'" he said.

According to South Africa's Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act, courts granting eviction notices must consider whether those evicted included vulnerable populations such as the elderly, children, disabled persons or households headed by women.

However, despite recourse to the law, many of those evicted had no legal representation and the majority of cases never ended up in the courts, the report said.

The SAHRC Advocate, Daniel Selala, said at the launch that in his experience he had never seen local municipalities abide by their legal obligations.

The report recommended that local government not only enforce the law, but also provide alternate housing to those evicted as part of long-term development strategy.

But it is unlikely the recommendations will be implemented quickly enough to save Johannesburg inner-city resident Mongezi Gidimisana from the streets.

Gidimisana has been attempting to use the courts to thwart his eviction and that of other residents living in a block of flats, but on 19 September they were evicted with no where to go, among them children studying for their final school exams.

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Topics: Forced eviction,