Soweto property owners ask court to send Johannesburg officials to jail

Nine property owners, who bought land from the City of Johannesburg years ago, have not been able to occupy their land and were charged rates and taxes despite in spite of not being connected to basic services. Now they want the court to send City officials to jail. Archive photo: Ashraf Hendricks

• A group of Soweto property owners want City of Johannesburg officials to be sent to jail for a year for failing to comply with two court orders.

• Nine property owners bought their properties in the Zondi area of Soweto between 2009 and 2014 under the City of Johannesburg’s land regularisation process.

• The process was aimed at selling thousands of council-owned properties to residents, giving them access to land and home ownership.

• However, in October 2017, the owners took the City to court after discovering that there was no bulk infrastructure for basic services, and they could not build their homes but were being charged rates and taxes.

• They returned to court in December 2021 to secure a contempt order against the City.

• Now they are asking for the responsible officials, including a senior manager at the Joburg Property Company, the municipal manager and the mayor, to be sent to jail for a year.

A group of Soweto property owners want City of Johannesburg officials to be sent to jail for not complying with two court orders.

The nine owners, who bought land under the City’s land regularisation process, have not been able to occupy the land and have been charged rates and taxes despite their stands not being connected to basic services. The City’s regularisation process was aimed at selling thousands of council-owned properties to residents, giving them access to land and home ownership.

But, these owners say, they have been let down. And in spite of getting two court orders compelling the City and its agent, the Joburg Property Company, to install the basic bulk infrastructure in the area so they can build on their stands, more than five years later this has not been done.

The property owners, who are represented by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), bought their properties in the Zondi area of Soweto between 2009 and 2014.

They first went to court in October 2017 after discovering that there was no bulk infrastructure for basic services and they could not build their homes but were being charged rates and taxes.

They asked for an order for the City’s conduct to be declared unconstitutional and to direct it to install the necessary infrastructure, and to write off the rates charges. A settlement agreement was made by an order of court. In it, the City agreed to install the infrastructure and said a special council meeting would be convened, in terms of the Municipal Structures Act, to process the approval of the installations.

The owners say that order was not complied with. And in December 2021 they returned to court, securing another order stating that the City was now in contempt. But this had little or no effect.

Now the residents have launched further contempt proceedings in the Gauteng High Court.

They also want the court to declare that the conduct in their case is inconsistent with the Constitution and is unlawful.

In an affidavit Pamela Duduzile Nkosi, on behalf of the owners, said: “The core of this application is about accountability. The issues raised in this application are about holding government institutions and officials accountable for not only contemptuous conduct towards this court, but also about the dereliction of their constitutional obligations even after they have been clarified by this court.”

Nkosi said five years had passed since the first order was granted, by agreement, and yet they were not given any good reason why they were still without bulk infrastructure.

Nkosi attached a long list of correspondence between CALS and attorneys acting for the City. It reflects that at some stage a “working committee” was established to monitor the situation, that there had been some instability in the community and a need to engage with the ward councillor regarding the installations.

On the issue of the bills, Nkosi said, finally in May 2024 it appeared as if the debts had been written off. But they were still facing “discomfort” at the fact that the billing would again proceed and they would still have no electricity and water.

In a statement this month, the City stated that the application was premature “given the collaborative efforts made by both parties to implement the court order”.

“To date, the City has made significant progress on implementing the court order. The write-off report has been approved and the City’s debt collectors have been notified. Furthermore, the area is supplied with electricity by Eskom and CALS was notified to advise their clients to individually apply to Eskom for electricity.”

The City added that a bulk service provider had been appointed but was chased away by the community and the contract was subsequently cancelled. A meeting was scheduled for this week with the ward councillor and the community to find a solution to this.

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