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Rosettenville residents successfully defend eviction

- Lee-Anne Gaertner

CALS represents residents from Rosettenville in Johannesburg who successfully approached the High Court to suspend an eviction order against them

On 28 January 2025, the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) appeared in the High Court in Johannesburg representing a group of residents from Rosettenville facing eviction from their homes. The residents include women and children who would have been left homeless had the eviction been carried out. CALS successfully argued that this would not be in the interests of justice and that the municipality has a duty to provide alternative accommodation.

The Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) represents a group of residents from Rosettenville, Johannesburg, who have faced eviction from their homes at least five times in the last eight years. During that time, the owners of the building and Johannesburg Water have also limited their access to water and electricity. The residents have successfully challenged this form of constructive eviction in court.

The most recent eviction application was granted in May 2024 by the High Court in Johannesburg, with the order set to be carried out at the end of January 2025. The Court gave the City of Johannesburg eight months to comply with its legal duty to provide alternative accommodation for those residents who qualify. The Court further ordered the Gauteng Department of Social Development to accommodate some of the women residents in places of safety.

Shortly thereafter, CALS applied for leave to appeal the eviction order on the basis that it was not conditional on the provision of alternative accommodation and would have left our clients homeless. Unfortunately, our application for leave to appeal was dismissed in August 2024.

With no alternative accommodation in place by 17 January 2025, CALS approached the High Court on an urgent basis to prevent the eviction from being carried out. We asked the Court to suspend its eviction order until the City of Johannesburg or the Department of Social Development provide the residents with alternative accommodation in line with the right to access adequate housing. The High Court in Johannesburg heard the matter on 28 January 2025 and granted the suspension order. 

“We welcome yesterday’s judgment suspending our clients’ eviction, which we argue serves the interests of justice,” says Thandeka Kathi, head of Home, Land and Rural Democracy at CALS. “We understand that there are many competing rights and interests in a matter such as this one. Yet, the law around evictions is clear: no-one may be evicted from their home if they will be left homeless. This is not an isolated case, but rather a reflection of the persisting housing crisis within the City of Johannesburg.” 

Read more in our papers here.

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