Cape Town - The City of Cape Town says it is satisfied after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) and the High Court dismissed a challenge by the EFF and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to the existing legal right of landowners to protect their property from unlawful occupation without a court order.
Both courts upheld the principle of “counter-spoliation” which allows property owners to retake their property during an unlawful occupation attempt.
This ruling, the City said, supported the legality of counter-spoliation, asserting that it was neither unlawful nor unconstitutional.
However, the City said it was concerned about the court's interpretation of the narrow timeframe allowed for landowners to counter-spoliate and noted that its appeal on this matter was dismissed.
“The SCA ruling points to the potential solution being the reforming of the Prevention of Illegal Eviction and Unlawful Occupation of Land (PIE) Act,” said Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
The legal battle began during the Covid-19 lockdown when the City conducted numerous anti-land invasion operations in response to largescale illegal occupation attempts.
In 2020/21 alone, the City faced 993 such incidents, leading to the formation of 159 settlements on uninhabitable land. Over the past five years, the City says it has protected around 3 000 parcels of land from unlawful occupation.
The EFF and SAHRC argued that protection under the PIE Act began the moment a person entered a property with the intent to seize it.
The SCA, however, ruled that City personnel could assess the situation on-site to determine if counter-spoliation was feasible before obtaining a court order.
The court also affirmed the continued use of counter-spoliation by the City’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit and private contractors as lawful.
“It is important for the state, and any landowner, to be able to protect property from organised invasion in real-time. We welcome the SCA upholding counter-spoliation as a legal right, even as we still assess various aspects of this complex judgment,” said Hill-Lewis.
The judgment suggested potential reforms to the PIE Act to exclude unlawful occupiers from its protection, citing the need for legislative intervention. The City said it would consider whether to appeal certain aspects of the judgment. “We want Cape Town to be a better place for all, even when it is double the size, and we will never stop advocating for enabling the state to protect land while also upholding the dignity of the vulnerable,” HillLewis said.
Cape Argus