Durban - The owner of a “slum building” in Durban’s Umgeni Road – a haven for about 200 squatters – says while the city is threatening to prosecute him, it is stopping his attempts to evict those living there.
The building has been condemned by virtually every municipal department, and the occupants do not pay for services or rent.
But in a report submitted to the Durban High Court, city officials say the squatters must be allowed to stay there for at least a year, after which they hope to start implementing a new housing policy and find them other places.
“There are no offers of any compensation for housing them or for a rates rebate,” said the owner, Mohamed Iqbal Sulaman, in his most recent affidavit filed with the court.
The legal wrangle over the dilapidated building dates from October 2012 when Sulaman, in his capacity as a trustee of the trust which owns the building, obtained an ejectment order against the occupiers.
In court papers, Sulaman said the trust had leased the building to a Mr Khan and he had allowed people to move in.
That lease had expired and now the trust was trying to turn the building back into a warehouse.
Sulaman said various city departments had issued contravention notices, including the fire department, the electricity department, health and social services and sustainable development.
In May 2011, he was told to either demolish the building or alter and secure it, and failure to comply would result in prosecution, conviction and possible imprisonment.
“It was clear the municipality found the premises in such a state of disrepair that it was a hazard to house people there,” he said.
An ejectment order was issued by the court, but when it was served, the residents went back to court and obtained an interdict stopping their eviction pending the outcome of an application for a rescission of the order.
They claimed their attorney had not acted in accordance with their instructions. They said they believed Khan was the owner and not the trust. With the protection of an interim order, the occupiers did not take the matter further.
Sulaman’s attorney Leif Lunde told The Mercury he had tried to get the matter back before the court, but the court files had gone missing and had to be recreated at least four times. “It was eventually set down for argument in February this year,” he said.
On that day, Judge Peter Olsen discharged the interdict ordering that a list of occupiers be prepared. He directed the municipality to provide them with temporary housing and, if that was not possible, to report back to the court on reasons.
In two reports submitted to the court, the city said it had a housing backlog of 415 000 household , “about 40% of the total population of our area of jurisdiction”.
With budgetary constraints it could take 40 years to eradicate this and there were people far worse off than those living in the Umgeni Road building. The city also said “the building has not been declared unsafe” and asked that the eviction order be stayed for 12 months so it could investigate options.
Sulaman has put up proof of all the contravention notices. He says he has effectively lost control of the property.
“In the meantime the city paints a dire picture of how long it will take to eradicate its housing backlog … it seeks to force the trust to continue to house the occupants for at least 12 months.
“The municipality, now it is required to provide the temporary accommodation, conveniently says the building is not unsafe. The trust wants to comply with the orders, but the municipality is seeking to compel us to contravene these.”
He added that the municipality spent tens of millions of rands on a “tourism project” but complained it had no money to assist occupants of a condemned building which it had said should be demolished.
He said the trust would push for an urgent court hearing to apply for another ejectment order.
The Mercury