Page 3 - Notes from LRC's Housing Conference

2. KEY LEARNINGS UNDER EACH TOPIC
2.1. OPPOSING EVICTIONS: A GUIDE FOR COMMUNITIES
A) Understanding the context
It is important to understand the context in which evictions occur from a social and historical perspective. Evictions in South Africa have long been contentious, particularly given the country’s past of racial segregation and mass evictions. Substantive and procedural protections for black and poor people facing eviction were virtually non-existent during apartheid. Approximately 18 million people were jailed simply for having tried to escape the homeland and rural pover- ty. 3.5 million people were forcibly removed from 1960 to 1980. The apartheid policy and legislated racial discrimination in the areas of land and housing was based on the following:
• Influx control within cities – for example, there was a coloured labour preference in the Western Cape that limited the movement of people from the Eastern Cape to ensure that they did not gain access to the cities.
• Establishment of homelands in communal areas where ethnic groups were grouped together. The criminalisation of ‘illegal squatting’ through the Illegal Squatting Act of 1951. Two main consequences of the establishment of informal settlements were (i) influx (ii) homeland policy, which led to demand for housing. It became a criminal offence to erect structures without permission and provided for summary demolitions.
• The government introduced the ouster clause, which meant that no court could inquire or set aside a demolition order. This was done to remove the jurisdiction of the High Court and make it easier to demolish homes and structures.
From 1990, there was a systematic repeal of the key laws and bureaucracy used to maintain spatial, racial, economic, and social segregation and constitutional amendments – this ensured protection against eviction of homeless and poor people.
B) The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (“Constitution”) recognises South Africa’s history of forced removals and dispossession and places obligations on the state to redress past injustices proactively. Section 25 (5) of the Constitution enshrines an obligation on the state to ensure that citizens progressively obtain access to land on an equitable basis. Section 25 (5) of the Constitution reads as follows:
“The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within available resources to foster conditions which enable citizens to gain access to land on an equitable basis.”
SUMMARY NOTES FROM THE HOUSING CONFERENCE
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