The Woman’s Legal Centre (WLC) was hailed as victorious at a recent Equality Court ruling ordering the City of Cape Town to amend its housing allocation policy.
The Centre represented a Cape Town woman who could not access a subsidy as the City’s policy stipulates that the applicant be a married male or a single woman who’s a breadwinner or has dependents residing with her.
The city had ordered that the transfer of their property to her could only happen with the male’s consent.
The Court ordered the City to update its records to reflect the husband and wife as equal beneficiaries. The case has been on the court roll for about 20 years.
Court orders City of Cape Town to amend housing policy
Director of the WLC, Seeham Sammai, says they successfully argued in court that the policy discriminated against women.
“There’s a range of women that are now being acknowledged, which are those maybe who were married in terms of Muslim Rights, who were married in terms of religious practice- those women that were seen as not bread winners, and those women are now recognized, and with that comes the responsibility of the City that their rights are realized, and that the property gets transferred to their names also. Which means there’s a broader women empowerment within relationships.” says Sammai.
Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Malusi Booi, says it’s an old policy that no longer applies.
The case was based on the old laws not of us as the City of Cape Town, because the City of Cape Town, you must remember it was established in 2000 and from that it then established its own housing policy, which made sure that there’s equality between males and females. There was no discrimination between males and females, there was no discrimination in our policy and we made sure up to until this date, the new allocation policy was reviewed in March this year and approved by council. So we’ve been consistent since 2000 to make sure that our citizens are treated equally.”
The WLC says women were discriminated against because of their gender. Unlike women, men could own or rent property, even though they were not breadwinners.
Samaai says the judgment is a huge victory.
The Court has ordered that the city embark on a media campaign on what needs to be done, to find women, who have been affected by the old policy, and ensure that they are included as co-home owners. All parties have been ordered to report back to the court in February next year.
