Inner city residents seek to appeal SCA evictions judgment
About 300 residents of two buildings in Johannesburg\'s inner city are to task the Constitutional Court for leave to appeal against a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) decision that opened the way for city officials to evict them.
Stuart Wilson, of the Wits Centre for Applied Legal Studies, said: The decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal failed to seriously consider the claims of the poor to be adequately catered for in terms of Johannesburg\'s housing and urban regeneration policies. The SCA was too sympathetic to the city\'s regeneration strategy. He added: We are more optimistic about the appeal to the Constitutional Court. According to a Mail & Guardian Online report, the buildings, which the city said were unsafe, are to be revamped under an inner-city regeneration programme. The SCA\'s eviction order has been suspended pending the outcome of the application. While the residents in this case won the right to alternative accommodation, the SCA did very little to protect the thousands of people living in similar circumstances, Wilson said. Nor did the SCA properly safeguard the residents\' constitutional rights by making the execution of the eviction order conditional on genuine consultation and the provision of alternative shelter. He added: It is to be hoped that the Constitutional Court will remedy these and other limitations in the SCA judgment. [url=http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=305126&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national style=original popup]Fu