Court grants eviction order against homeless people in Cape Town CBD

The Western Cape High Court has granted the City of Cape Town an eviction order against homeless people in the CBD.

According to the court order, the sheriff of the court is permitted to evict any remaining unlawful occupants after 30 July.

The order interdicts further unlawful occupation of these areas and further City-owned public spaces.

The City approached the courts last year in an attempt to evict homeless people who had pitched their tents along Buitengracht Street, FW De Klerk Boulevard, Foregate Square, taxi rank and Foreshore, Helen Suzman Boulevard, Strand Street, Foreshore/N1, Virginia Avenue and Mill Street Bridge in the city.

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On Thursday, Cape Town claimed social development officials had made repeated offers of social assistance to those unlawfully occupying public spaces in the city.

These included offers of “dignified” transitional shelter at NGO-run night shelters and City-run Safe Spaces.

Another eviction application

Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis welcomed the eviction order, further saying another eviction application was in the pipeline.

The department of public works is expected to launch the application for the area surrounding the Castle of Good Hope.

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“The City welcomes this order, which will enable the restoration of public places for all to use in Cape Town’s CBD. The court has affirmed City Safe Spaces as dignified transitional shelter, and the offer of spaces at these facilities still stands for those who have not yet accepted,” said Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

“Accepting social assistance to get off the streets is the best choice for dignity, health, and well-being. The City has gone to great lengths to extend every offer of care to individuals unlawfully occupying public places in various parts of the metro.

“Where offers of help to get off the streets have been refused, we seek the court’s help as a last resort. No person has the right to reserve a public space as exclusively theirs. This while indefinitely refusing all offers of shelter and social assistance.”

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In February, the sheriff carried out an eviction order for unlawful occupants at the Green Point Tennis Courts.

In April, another eviction order was carried out in the vicinity of the Nelson Mandela Boulevard intersection with Hertzog Boulevard, Old Marine Drive, and Christiaan Barnard Bridge on 10 April.