The Western Cape High Court has granted the City a court order to force the refugees and asylum seekers living in and around the Central Methodist Mission on Greenmarket Square to comply with its by-laws.
Handing down the judgment, Acting Judge Daniel Thulare said: “What is clear to me is that unless the court intervenes, the conduct of the refugees, which has no regard for authority, the rights of others and the law, will continue indefinitely.
“The City has a duty and a right to enforce compliance of its by-laws not only in its own interests, but those of the community.”
He ordered that over the next seven days, the City and the Department of Home Affairs process the refugees at a venue to be provided by the City.
The refugees have until March 17 to appeal the order.
Thulare said the refugees had set up a self-governing territory in the city, had contravened City by-laws and “rendered the area of Greenmarket Square that they have occupied ungovernable”.
Welcoming the order, Mayor Dan Plato said: “We now have a clearer mandate on the way forward, and appeal to businesses, informal traders and the general public to bear with us while we act in terms of the court order.”
However, the City has no jurisdiction inside the church to ask the court to evict them and thus the ruling isn’t an eviction order.
The area covered by the judge’s order includes Longmarket and Burg streets (including the pavements and Greenmarket Square), where the refugees have been camping out.
Meanwhile, refugee spokesperson JP Balous said: “The judgment is no different to what I had been expecting because I knew there was no rule of law in South Africa when it comes to refugees.
“This case was a big test for the South African government and constitution and they
failed it.”
Cape Argus