3 days ago
High Court to decide fate of occupants living in hijacked building in Cape Town CBD
On Thursday, the Western Cape High Court is expected to hear an eviction application brought by the department against residents living at 104 Darling, a three-storey building in the city centre.
If granted, residents of the building will face eviction without guaranteed alternative housing.
The property has been declared a 'problem property' under City of Cape Town by-laws, with no electricity since 2016.
If the Western Cape High Court grants the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure an eviction order against residents unlawfully occupying a building in Cape Town's CBD, they say they will be left without alternative accommodation.
On Thursday, the High Court is expected to hear an eviction application brought by the department against residents living at 104 Darling, a three-storey building in the city centre.
According to the City of Cape Town's by-laws, the building has previously been declared a problem property. Residents have been without electricity since December 2016.
The building's condition has since deteriorated. Makeshift shacks have been erected inside, doors are broken, and additional shacks have been set up in the backyard.
News24 previously reported that the department intends to demolish the small, dilapidated office block. The estimated cost of refurbishment is R3 million.
In court papers, the department said the property - comprised of two parcels of land - has become vulnerable to land grabs and invasions due to its derelict state. It also warned that the vacant adjoining land is overgrown with trees, posing a fire hazard.
The residents are being represented by the housing law organisation, Ndifuna Ukwazi.
In a supplementary affidavit filed last month, the department's director of real estate management services, Dumisani Gqibela, said: 'It goes without saying that where you have a crumbling building and exterior walls that are crumbling, the danger of it collapsing and causing death and injury to people will remain until the structure and walls have been demolished and the persons in its vicinity have been removed from such dangerous and hazardous conditions.'
Gqibela said the department brought the application because the 'derelict building poses a serious health and safety risk to the occupiers'.
He further described as 'unsubstantiated claims' the suggestion that residents would be rendered homeless if evicted.
'The City of Cape Town will address the issue relating to Ebenezer Shelter and further emergency accommodation in their report. In this regard, it should specifically be noted that the respondents have, to date, not provided the City with all the relevant completed questionnaires as far back as 8 May 2025,' he said in the court papers.
Gqibela added that Ndifuna Ukwazi's 'general approach to this eviction application is reckless and unfair to the members of the general public'.
In a supplementary answering affidavit filed by 104 Darling residents, resident Ayabulela Gwenzane argued that none of the department's reports showed 'real and imminent harm to the property and persons to justify an urgent eviction order being granted'.
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'In respect of the hardship that the NU [Ndifuna Ukwazi] respondents would suffer, we have set this out in our provisional answering affidavit and include the negative impact that displacement would have on us and that we would be rendered homeless if evicted.
'The applicant [the department], despite having been provided with our personal circumstances, insists that we would not be rendered homeless. The applicant is of the view that we can afford alternative accommodation and/or qualify for social housing and or will be provided with shelter by the City of Cape Town in the Ebenezer Shelter space and consequently would not be rendered homeless.
'The applicant misses the point that unless alternative accommodation is secured by 19 June, if an urgent order is granted on the date as prayed by for the applicant, then we would be rendered homeless,' he said.
Gwenzane added that the department ignored the residents' income information, noting that while most are employed, the work is precarious and dependent on being close to the CBD.
He said:
We cannot afford alternative accommodation in the private rental market. Rental accommodation is too expensive.
Regarding shelters, Gwenzane said they do not accommodate couples or allow families with children to stay together.
Asked for comment about alternative accommodation, Department of Public Works and Infrastructure spokesperson Lennox Mabaso said: 'The department has already engaged with the City of Cape Town regarding safe and secure shelter for any of the inhabitants who qualify and who may be affected by the proceedings, as required by law, as the building has been declared unsafe for human occupation and at risk of collapse.'
Mabaso added that the alternative accommodation would be in one of the city-supported shelters, including the Safe Space shelters in central Cape Town.
'The City has done pioneering work to establish shelters for homelessness to ensure that occupants are provided with safe and secure accommodation,' he said.
