Landlord’s lawyer argues that private owners do not have the same obligation to provide housing as government
By Barbara Maregele
19 February 2018
Some Woodstock residents will testify in court on Tuesday in a bid to explain why the eviction orders against them should be set aside.
The case against a group of families facing eviction from their homes in Albert Road, Woodstock, commenced at the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court on Monday. During the brief hearing, Magistrate Paul Jethro commended the lawyer representing the families, Mark Owen, for the interest he has taken in his clients.
“I assume that you have depicted their personal circumstances adequately in the opposing papers but I will afford them the opportunity to tell me their stories,” he said.
Some of the residents have been living in Woodstock for over three decades.
Jethro read a section of the heads of argument for the landlord’s lawyer, Ahmed Ebrahim, which stated: “A distinction has to be made for applicants for eviction of an unlawful occupier brought by land owners and evictions instituted by the state.”