Western Cape High Court Refuses Leave to Appeal Transnet Land Eviction

The Western Cape High Court has dismissed an application for leave to appeal an eviction order granted against people occupying Transnet land in Salt River and Woodstock, Cape Town. The original order, granted in July, required the occupiers to vacate the land by 30 September.

In a judgment delivered last week, Judge Derek Wille said the applicants had not identified any legal misdirection beyond challenging the factual conclusions drawn from the evidence. He noted that he had invited the occupiers to place detailed information about their individual circumstances before the court, but they filed what he described as "vanilla standard-form affidavits", and their elected spokesman's affidavit was not confirmed under oath and contained hearsay.

Wille found the occupiers failed to establish either a realistic prospect of success or a compelling reason for an appeal. He said the availability of suitable alternative accommodation was an important consideration in the just-and-equitable enquiry, but not an immutable prerequisite for an eviction order, and that no affidavit explicitly stated that eviction would render an occupant homeless.

The City of Cape Town presented detailed, uncontroverted evidence that the property served as a base for criminal enterprise, including crime statistics, geographic patterns and physical destruction of infrastructure. The court heard that tunnels under the property used to store drugs and stolen goods were discovered during an inspection in loco.

Wille said there was no uncertainty in the law warranting an appellate hearing and made no order as to costs. Transnet did not respond to a request for comment, while the City referred questions to the state-owned enterprise. The initial order authorised the Sheriff of the High Court, assisted by police, to evict the occupiers together with their possessions and any unlawfully erected structures, and to restore occupation to Transnet.