Residents in Salt River in Western Cape win eviction case

The Western Cape High Court has ruled in favour of a group of residents living in the highly sought after suburb of Salt River in Cape Town following a five-year battle.

The residents of Bromwell Street challenged their eviction following notices from the private owners who had purchased the properties they have lived in for generations.

They paid little or no rent at all. Bromwell residents were seeking an order to compel the City of Cape Town to provide them with emergency or transitional housing that is as close as possible to where they currently reside.

Disha Govender of the Ndifuna Ukwazi law centre, representing the families, has welcomed the ruling saying the city needs to rethink its housing policy.

“In any specific area especially the well-located areas, especially in areas where you know people are being forced out, are evicted from or relegated to the unseen spaces in the city. That it is important for there to be a development of a mix of affordable housing, not just social housing, not just houses, not just emergency housing but a sufficient mix to respond to the true housing need that presents itself in that area in the city,” says Govender.