High Court dismisses urgent application by Marievale Residents
It proved to be an unsuccessful day in the High Court for the former Marievale residents. An urgent application for contempt of court against the Minister of Defence, SANDF and the Officer Commanding Marievale Base, were dismissed on September 13. Marievale residents who became applicants in this court case, were duly represented by Louise du …
It proved to be an unsuccessful day in the High Court for the former Marievale residents.
An urgent application for contempt of court against the Minister of Defence, SANDF and the Officer Commanding Marievale Base, were dismissed on September 13.
Marievale residents who became applicants in this court case, were duly represented by Louise du Plessis from the Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR).
However, despite a ruling by Judge Norman Davis on May 9 in favour of the Marievale residents who had been violently and unlawfully evicted from their homes by members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) during November and December 2017, over 200 people are still living in horrendous conditions at the Happiness Village informal settlement.
Although the court ruled that the evicted families may return to their homes, or where restoration was not possible within 30 days of the court order, SANDF was ordered to make provision for adequate alternative accommodation.
On the same day the SANDF issued a statement that the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans respect the decision of the court and would abide by it. However, more than five months after judgment and nearly a year after the evictions, the residents of Marievale remain displaced.
Failure to implement the court order has accordingly resulted in the LHR launching another urgent application, which was dismissed on the grounds that is was reportedly not submitted timeously after expiry of the 30 days during which the SANDF was ordered to make provision for adequate alternative accommodation.
Many residents had moved into the Happiness Village where they live in shacks and share a total of three newly installed pit toilets.
The trauma of losing their homes continues to haunt them and some still complain of being harassed and intimidated by military personnel from the base.
“We have no electricity or running water. Water which is provided by a military tanker on a daily basis is not fit for human consumption, but only for washing purposes,” community leader Chris Koitsioe told HERAUT during a visit on September 12.
He lived in Marievale since 2004 – he had joined the formerly known South African Defence Force in 1988 and resigned in 2007, but remained in his home until the day he was forcefully evicted by armed soldiers.
After the tragic death of his friend and community activist Willie Koekemoer on July 21, Koitsioe became the voice of the people living in the village. He said the Marievale community had made a village for themselves inside the compound and added that they even organised a voting station inside the village, but political parties were not bothered about their plight.
Shortly after the judgment, it transpired that all the homes formerly occupied by the evicted residents of Marievale were apparently allocated to members of SANDF. The SANDF then offered alternative accommodation to the residents in the form of two open space bungalows with no privacy or cooking facilities and with limited ablution facilities.
“The bungalows do not meet the constitutional standards of adequate alternative accommodation and are grossly unsuitable to accommodate the evicted families which include women, elderly persons and children,” Koitsioe explained.
Now at wits’ end, residents continue with their daily lives at Happiness Village, but they remain intent to undo the injustice done to them and bring finality to the matter, hoping that at some point, the wheels of justice will eventually turn.
HERAUT is awaiting a response from Louise du Plessis with regard to the way forward.
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