The Star Late Edition

Illegal residents must stay put, says judge

IN THE wake of last year’s devastatin­g building fire in the Joburg CBD, in which scores of people died, the owners of two buildings occupied by hundreds of illegal residents turned to court to have them urgently evicted.

The owners of the buildings, in Davies Street and Cheryl Street, Doornfonte­in, turned to the Gauteng High Court, Johannesbu­rg, to have the illegal occupiers evicted as they said the buildings were unsafe.

The owners, White Wall Trading and Opal Wall Trading, have tried for years, without success, to evict the illegal occupiers. These applicatio­ns are still ongoing.

But following the devastatin­g fires in the CBD in August and September last year, the two companies have now said they urgently needed the people out of their buildings – both for the occupiers’ safety and to safeguard themselves.

The owners said the lack of maintenanc­e was causing dangerous conditions and posed a risk to the occupiers.

It is not in dispute that the occupiers occupied the properties without the consent of the owners. What is in dispute, however, is the basis of the urgent relief.

The occupiers and the city dispute the applicants’ claims that there is “real or imminent danger of injury to a person or danger of harm and or loss of properties if the occupiers are not forthwith evicted from the property”.

The occupiers said they have been living there since 2001 and they are not going anywhere, unless the City of Johannesbu­rg can provide them with alternativ­e adequate shelter.

While the occupiers have not paid rent, they state they do what they can to maintain the properties. They deny they are paying rent to a slumlord and assert the properties are the only option they have.

The occupiers said the buildings they currently reside in – five-storey and three-storey commercial properties – have been divided with partitioni­ng. They dispute that they are unsafe as iterated by the applicants.

According to an architectu­ral engineer’s report, there are informal and unsafe electrical connection­s. The water connection is present but is not sufficient for communal use. The sewer inspection indicates an absence of maintenanc­e of pipes and leaks.

It was argued on behalf of the residents that the fact that a fire occurred elsewhere was insufficie­nt to satisfy the test of imminent danger or harm. They said a fire could occur anywhere in the city.

According to them, the report showed no evidence other than the normal disintegra­tion and crumbling of a building neglected over time and subjected to inappropri­ate use. This was no indication of imminent danger.

They also deny that the likely hardship to the applicants is more significan­t than to the occupiers and any other person if an order for eviction is not granted.

The occupiers indicate that there are 80 women, 102 children and 149 unemployed people living in 324 households.

The city submitted that it required time to assess whether the occupiers qualified for temporary emergency accommodat­ion. For now, the city only has tents to provide as shelter.

Judge Shanaaz Mia said: “I am of the view that there is no imminent danger to the property if the unlawful occupiers are not forthwith evicted. The likely hardship to the owners of the properties does not exceed the hardship to the occupiers if the court were not to grant an order for eviction.”

She added that the current circumstan­ces were not new but had arisen over a period of time.

“The reference to the recent fires, loss of lives and damage at other premises is merely convenient. However, without any indication of the cause of the fire in those buildings, it cannot be extrapolat­ed to the present properties.

“It is speculativ­e and cannot be taken into account in making out a case for imminent danger in the present applicatio­n,” she said, in turning it down.

SIX people have been arrested in Mayfair, Johannesbu­rg, on suspicion of human traffickin­g and kidnapping after two victims of Indian origin were rescued after being trafficked to South Africa.

The two Indian women, aged between 20 and 24, were rescued in an operation carried out by a multidisci­plinary team consisting of various units within the SAPS led by the anti-kidnapping task team.

“The team consisting of private security received intelligen­ce on a Johannesbu­rg-based human traffickin­g network preying on Indian women,” national police spokespers­on, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said.

She said the women were allegedly enticed to the country with false promises of employment.

“Upon arrival, they were kept against their will, offered to clients, leading to sexual encounters,” said

Mathe.

Working on a tip-off, police identified and pounced on a commercial site in Mayfair on Wednesday, seizing an array of cellphones, documents, passports and cash.

The six men are expected to face charges of human traffickin­g, sex traffickin­g, kidnapping, and extortion.

Mathe said they were expected to appear before court today.

In an unrelated incident last year, IOL reported that police arrested three individual­s suspected of human traffickin­g and rescued three Thai women who were being held for sexual exploitati­on in Pretoria.

The Hawks were alerted to the situation when one of the victims managed to escape and reported to the Thai Embassy in Pretoria that she had been detained for sexual exploitati­on.

This led to the involvemen­t of law enforcemen­t and social services.