High court declares the City of Cape Town’s lockdown evictions illegal

The Western Cape high court has found the City of Cape Town had acted illegally in launching evictions and demolitions on what it called “unoccupied dwellings” during the lockdown period. The case, brought by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and civic group Housing Assembly, was laid after the city and its law enforcement evicted a naked man, Bulelani Qolani, from his shack at the Ethembeni informal settlement in Khayelitsha in July. During that time South Africa was in level three of national lockdown to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. Under lockdown regulations, no evictions can take place. But the city argued the regulations did not preclude dwellings that were not occupied.

Joining us online is Mayor of the City of Cape Town, Dan Plato