Bromwell Street residents have rejected the two relocation areas offered to them by the City of Cape Town — Wolwerivier and Blikkiesdorp.
And after suggesting there were 45 properties available in Woodstock, the residents facing eviction were angered when a judge called their spokesperson a “kitchen hand who knew nothing”.
Charnell Commando says she could only lower her head in shame as Judge Leslie Weinkove ripped into her at the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.
Fifteen of these properties belonged to the City and were adequate for building.
“Is she an expert in development? She’s a kitchen hand, what does she know about properties?” Judge Weinkove asked the residents' lawyer, Advocate Sheldon Magardie.
Stunned at this outburst, the courtroom filled with Woodstock residents went quiet as Weinkove continued: “What about all the other people who don’t have homes? We have to consider all the other people a well.”
The City has said it can move the 27 residents, 16 adults and 11 children, being evicted by property developers The Woodstock Hub to Wolwerivier, a temporary relocation area more than 30km outside Cape Town.
But residents on Tuesday reiterated their refusal to move there, saying they want the City to provide them with emergency housing in or close to Woodstock.
Magardie warned that the City has been “unreasonable” and that the process of providing emergency housing should be “simple and swift”.
“This is something we want the court to rule on. The constitution provides that if there is emergency housing required, the City can lease property for the residents from provincial or even national government,” said Magardie.
“We are dealing with a location factor and not just putting people under a roof,” he said.
“It should be a 50/50 situation because the applicants have not unlawfully invaded the residence and The Woodstock Hub bought the property fully aware that there were people living in it.”
But Advocate Kirrisha Pillay for the City said the “only options” open to them were Wolwerivier and Blikkiesdorp.
“The location of the emergency housing has no relevance. Residents are willing to move to Mitchells Plain and there is only a 6km distance between there and Wolwerivier from Bromwell,” she said.
Commando said the two areas cannot be compared: while Mitchells Plain has public transport, schools, hospitals and shops, “Wolwerivier has none of these things”.
Pillay was also left flustered when she was unable to answer Weinkove’s questions of how many people lived at Wolwerivier (550), and if the bathrooms were inside or outside (inside).
Outside court, Commando said she felt insulted by Weinkove’s “kitchen hand” comment.
“He personally insulted and attacked me. I felt very bad, but now I am also afraid for my people. He does not see us,” she said.
“He needs to know who we are before passing judgement.”
She says they have been living in their houses for generations until March 2016, when they were served with eviction notices.
The tenants had lived there for two years, unaware that the previous owner, Reza Syms, had sold the row of homes to The Woodstock Hub, which plans to build a middle income block of flats.
The case continues on Wednesday.