Pretoria - Waste pickers must be allowed their dignity and given the opportunity to ply their trade so that they can provide for their families, a judge has said.
With these words, the court ordered the City of Joburg to provide a group of about 70 of these people living on vacant land in Midrand with alternative land where they could live and lawfully and safely collect and sort their reclaimed waste.
This week, the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg ordered the City to provide Portia Mofokeng and her fellow reclaimers with temporary accommodation that will allow them to continue with their reclaiming activities.
Judge Gregory Wright said while the land owner as well as the City had certain rights, those of the reclaimers or waste pickers must also be taken into consideration.
The Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa represented the informal reclaimers in their opposition to an eviction from an underdeveloped property in Midrand.
To the reclaimers this land is both a home and a place where they can make a decent living through collecting, sorting and selling recyclable waste.
In opposing the eviction, the reclaimers relied on their right not to be evicted into homelessness and to lose their livelihood, stating that the court could not grant an order which would deprive them of the enjoyment of these constitutional rights.
The judgment was sparked by an application brought by landowner Rycloff-Beleggings.
The company said it wanted to develop the land. The property was vacant and underdeveloped and located between a residential complex and a business park in Midrand.
The judge ordered that the City had to, by no later than March next year, come up with land where these people could stay and which would cater for their need to work.
Pretoria News