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On August 29, the Pretoria High Court declared that \u201cthe recent series of evictions undertaken by the City of Johannesburg (COJ) and the MMC for Human Settlements in Gauteng, on Farm Allandale, have been declared unlawful and unconstitutional.\u201d Lawyers for Human Rights<\/a>, the attorneys representing Farm Allendale residents, described this as \u201ca pivotal court decision<\/a> \u2026. This ruling is not just a win for the residents of Farm Allandale but a clarion call to all entities, reminding them of the human touch essential in the dispensation of justice. This victory serves as a testament to the resilience of communities and the critical role that organizations like LHR play in ensuring that justice is meted out fairly.\u201d A community of 836 people, identified as Rabie Ridge Community<\/a>, have lived for years on land known as Farm Allendale. The City of Johannesburg has evicted them, destroying their homes as well as their belongings, numerous times. The residents sued the City \u2026 and won. Acting Judge Elmien Du Plessis said, \u201cThese people have human rights as contained in the Bill of Rights and protected in the Constitution. Just because they are already living on the margins of society does not make them invisible social outcasts or nuisances, however much their presence may frustrate the respondents \u2013 the City and the MMC.\u201d The Judge declared the actions of the City unlawful and ruled the City had to either rebuild the shacks within 72 hours or pay each family R1500 to buy materials to rebuild their own homes. This was a landmark victory, a beacon in the very dark and too long night. Had I written in response on Wednesday, this would be a celebration. But then the fires broke out the next day, in the central business district of Johannesburg, the fires this time, the fires next time, and the whole world suddenly invoked the \u201ctragedy waiting to happen<\/a>\u201d. And so today, the question is not \u201cWhat is there to celebrate\u201d, although that is a good question, but rather \u201cWhat is there to say? What is the point of saying anything, when everything has already been said, and so many times before?\u201d<\/p>\n In June 2017, we wrote<\/a>, \u201cLast Thursday, the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled that\u00a0judges cannot authorize an eviction order that will leave people homeless<\/a>. Over the past 25 years, South Africa\u2019s highest courts have ruled consistently that the rights of residents, including occupiers, matter. Even with those protections in place, this decision is viewed as\u00a0groundbreaking<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0welcome<\/a>. The case involves 184 people \u2013 47 women, 114 men, 23 children \u2013 who have occupied an apartment building in the Berea neighborhood of Johannesburg\u2019s inner city.\u00a0Hlengiwe Mhlambo<\/a>\u00a0is one of the 184. She is forty years old, a mother of two, and an informal trader. For the past 14 years, Hlengiwe Mhlambo has lived in her apartment, eking out a meager living, raising her children, hoping to find, or better create, the once promised green pasture.\u201d This was a \u201cmomentous decision for millions of poor people across South Africa who live with insecure tenure and inadequate housing<\/a>\u201d. Remember? That was \u201conly\u201d six years ago.<\/p>\n In October 2022, just last year, the Johannesburg High Court rejected the `natural\u2019 inevitability of eviction. As we wrote then<\/a>, \u201cIn the case of\u00a0Rycloff-Beleggings (Pty) Ltd v Ntombekhaya Bonkolo and Others,<\/em>\u00a0the Johannesburg High Court ruled that a group of working people\u2019s access to work and right to dignity had to be considered when adjudicating an eviction notice. The case involves waste reclaimers who have been living on\u00a0an `undeveloped\u2019 stretch of farmland that lies between a residential complex and a business park<\/a>\u00a0in the Midrand section of Johannesburg. In 2018, the owners of the land, Rycloff-Beleggings, decided they wanted to `develop\u2019 the land, and so issued eviction notices. The city offered a site with no possibility of developing waste reclamation economies, and so, in May 2019, the residents sued, demanding to either stay put or be placed somewhere where they could continue to work. On October 4, Judge Greg Wright agreed and gave the city until March 2023 to find appropriate site for the community. Anything else `would leave them at risk<\/a>\u00a0of not being able to maintain their dignity and care for their children.\u00a0 It would be unfair and therefore unconstitutional to uphold the other parties\u2019 rights while the reclaimers go hungry. Furthermore, the rights of children are paramount in cases involving children such as the present one.\u2019 If people are on the land, it is not `undeveloped\u2019. If people live in a neighborhood, it too is not undeveloped.\u201d Remember? It was less than a year ago \u2026 and yet here we are.<\/p>\n