‘Time to treat the poor like dirt over’

Shack dwellers’ movement, Abahlali BaseMjondolo, say they feel vindicated by Wednesday’s Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling on the city of Cape Town’s land invasion case, which has upheld the right to dignity for the poor and marginalised who have long been subjected to unlawful evictions.

The movement, which is among the seven responders in the matter, was weighing in on the ruling, which upheld a high court decision that declared the 2020 eviction of homeless people on the City’s unoccupied land as unlawful and unconstitutional.

Visuals of the poor man being dragged and fighting to get back into his home were widely shared on social media, sparking public outcry.

At the time, the City of Cape Town argued that he had voluntarily took off his clothes in protest, and that they had not dragged him out of his residence naked.

Qolani has in the past reflected on that fateful day, saying he had been treated him like a dog.

“The City evicted me without an order from the court and victimised me without instructions,” he lamented.

The incident reignited the conversation on the disregard for homeless people and shack dwellers by the law.

Speaking to YNews, Abahlali baseMjondolo’s General Secretary Thapelo Mohapi says due process must always be followed when evictions take place, irrespective of a person’s social standing.

Mohapi says for many years Cape Town authorities disregarded the rights of homeless people by subjecting them to evictions with impunity and in some cases, people lost their lives after live ammunition was used on them.

Human Rights lawyer, advocate Sheldon Magardie, has also weighed in, hailing the SCA’s ruling as a lesson for leaders never to repeat the mistakes of the apartheid regime.

Advocate Magardie says the SCA’s ruling, deeming the city’s actions inhumane, calls for compassionate leadership.