Constitutional Court rules in favour of Bromwell Street residents in landmark ruling
A legal battle between the Bromwell Street residents, the City of Cape Town, Woodstock Hub and Abahlali baseMjondolo reached a momentous finality on Friday at the Constitutional Court which declared the City’s housing programme as unconstitutional and declared that the City provide housing within close proximity of Woodstock within six months.
The ConCourt ordered that the City unreasonably failed to adopt its own Temporary Emergency Accommodation (TEA) policy, to be implemented in conjunction with the National Emergency Housing Programme - and that it declined to consider providing TEA in the inner city.
It further ordered the City to provide Transitional Housing in the inner City for the evicted persons who have unlawfully occupied the land
The City has now been directed to develop a reasonable Temporary Emergency housing for the applicants or Transitional Housing in Woodstock or Salt River or nearest to the property of Bromwell Street within six months of the order.
They have also been instructed to pay costs of the applicants in the matter of the SCA and the High Court including the cost of two counsel and to deliver a report on their housing planning within four months.
The matter was brought forward by Ndifuna Ukwazi, housing activist and law centre, who represented the community.
This follows the City being granted leave to appeal a 2021 judgment, which declared that the City’s emergency housing programme and implementation as unconstitutional and to provide TEA.
The Bromwell families, who have lived in their homes for generations, had faced eviction and had rented their homes for amounts ranging from R300 to R2,000 per month before the property was sold to the Woodstock Hub in 2014.
The Woodstock Hub sought to evict the families and redevelop the property for higher rental incomes.
Disha Govender, lead attorney and Head of the Law Centre at Ndifuna Ukwazi said it was a victory for residents who had held the torch for more than eight years.
“We are here, we are valuable, we will be seen, and we are willing to fight for it,” said Govender.
“It has been eight years to have people locked in a court case, in a battle and to sustain the fight is incredibly hard.
“The inspiration that we draw is literally from the people that we work with and there is no way that we would have come as far as we had if the families did not stay strong.
“I want to take a special moment to honour Charnell, she has carried this case and she has carried me at times and has carried us all during this journey. It was a great personal sacrifice.
“We stand here today, after the Constitutional Court has vindicated our rights - not just our rights, but poor working class people - where we are saying development can happen but best believe it, it must happen with us as well.”
Charnell Commando, a resident, who is the lead applicant in the hearing said she was overjoyed at the outcome.
“I want to say thank you to everyone, to Ndifuna Ukwazi, to Disha,” she said.
“We are thankful to God who listened to prayers and our children do not have to worry that they have to go somewhere else.
Sidney Kimar of Marlon Shevelew Attorneys, who are instructing for Woodstock Hub PTY, the property owners did not respond to media queries before deadline was reached.
In response the City said: “The City reiterates that it is not financially feasible for any municipality in South Africa to provide alternative accommodation for private evictions in the location of the evictees’ choice. This would be financially ruinous for every municipality and would absorb the entire State housing budget allocations, stopping all other spending on public housing. The Court has recognised this impossibility...
“The City accepts the Court guidance with respect to the need for a policy (over and above the Housing Act and Code) regarding offers of temporary emergency accommodation.
“Following the ConCourt judgment, the City will proceed to determine the number of occupants remaining at Bromwell Street, including their socio-economic conditions, before further engagements on alternative emergency accommodation taking into account the currently available options,” the City said.
“The City’s focus has been on developing more social housing on the limited municipal owned available land in these central Cape Town areas. Any change in use of this land for emergency accommodation will only lead to less social housing in these areas, and this will certainly be the consequence of the Court’s decision.”
genevieve.serra@inl.co.za