10 April 2025
Residents of the building at 104 Darling Street picketed at the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday, where their eviction case was supposed to be heard. Photo: Matthew Hirsch
Residents of the building at 104 Darling Street, Cape Town, arrived with their lawyers at the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday to oppose their eviction, only to find that the case was not on the court roll.
The building is owned by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, which is seeking an urgent application to evict about 30 people living in the dilapidated building.
The department says in the court papers that the building is unsafe. It is one of 24 buildings being released by the department countrywide.
Residents were served eviction notices by the sheriff of the High Court on 27 February, with a court date set at Wednesday, 9 April. Their opposing papers, filed on 27 March, were acknowledged by the State Attorneys representing the department.
But no further communication was received from the State Attorneys or the department and no replying papers were filed by the department.
Spokesperson for the department Lennox Mabaso told GroundUp that the matter had been “postponed due to insufficient time” for the legal team to prepare. He said the legal team had only eight days from 27 March to prepare their response. “A new court date will be obtained as soon as possible.”
But Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU) Law Centre, representing the residents, was not told that the matter was to be postponed. Counsel had been briefed to argue the matter in court and some Darling Street residents took the day off work to attend the hearing.
Disha Govender, head of the NU Law Centre, said: “We have not received any application for postponement of the matter nor do we understand on what the basis would be, given that the National Minister has brought this application on an urgent basis,” said Govender.
“An urgent application for an urgent eviction order that would see people rendered homeless is extraordinary relief and should not be brought lightly. Our clients were dragged to court on an urgent basis, have acted with urgency, and are experiencing high levels of anxiety and stress as a result of this application, which will continue until the matter is dealt with.”
The Department of Justice, under which the State Attorney falls, had not responded to questions by the time of publication.
Unathi Mangali has lived at 104 Darling Street for 20 years and says she will be homeless if evicted. Archive photo: Matthew Hirsch.
Sisanda Mtwetafa, who took a day off work to be at court said she was disappointed that the matter would not be heard. She was homeless before she moved into 104 Darling Street.
“I missed my job today because I was supposed to be here. I didn’t sleep last night because I was worried.”
Unathi Mangali, who has been living in the property for about 20 years, said she was surprised the state’s attorneys were not at court. “I feel like they were trying to scam us,” she said.
In the affidavit filed on 27 March, resident Ayabulela Gwenxane called the department’s eviction application “fatally defective”, with essential annexures missing. Gwenxane said the matter should be struck off the roll.
“Our attorneys have repeatedly requested the missing and incomplete annexures. Their correspondence has been ignored,” said Gwenxane.