Cape Town - Scores of homeless people living on the grassy patch adjacent to and on the Three Anchor Bay Tennis Club courts will have to pack up their belongings and leave after a court on Tuesday granted a final eviction order, forcing them to vacate by January 31.
The Western Cape High Court order has also interdicted against further unlawful occupation at the tennis court, and other City-owned public spaces in Green Point and surrounds.
If the homeless fail to vacate the sidewalk by January 31, the Sheriff of the Court, assisted by the SAPS, has been directed to evict them by February 7; demolish and/or remove any structure on the property; and remove any possessions and/or building materials belonging to the homeless, which will be kept for a month.
The City said it was now further awaiting the high court’s ruling on a final eviction order for various homeless encampment sites in the CBD, including along Buitengracht Street, FW De Klerk Boulevard, Foregate Square, the taxi rank and Foreshore, Helen Suzman Boulevard, Strand Street, Foreshore/N1, Virginia Avenue and Mill Street Bridge.
“The CBD and Atlantic seaboard is Cape Town’s main economic and tourism hub, and it is vital that public places must be open and available for all,” said Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
“The City has gone to great lengths to extend every offer of care to individuals unlawfully occupying public places in these areas. Accepting social assistance to get off the streets is the best choice for dignity, health, and well-being.
“Where offers of help to get off the streets have been persistently refused, we are seeking the court’s help.
“This is done as a last resort.
“No person has the right to reserve a public space as exclusively theirs, while indefinitely refusing all offers of shelter and social assistance.”
There were 37 homeless people directly cited in the judgment, along with “all other persons” living on the street in Green Point.
Transitional shelter at City-run Safe Spaces will be available for those requiring the service, the City said.
Carlos Mesquita, founder of Outsider, a community upliftment organisation for the homeless, said the eviction order will not solve the issue of homelessness in Cape Town.
He said the encampment in Green Point started after those who stayed at the Strandfontein homeless camp during the Covid-19 pandemic, and were subsequently housed at Community Chest, were asked to move out.
“Sadly this eviction and the fact that all these individuals will be back on someone’s street.
“Either this, or they will move onto the mountain or go stay in the caves down the cliffs in Camps Bay, or move on to live under some bridge in Green Point or add to the many already living in the dunes all the way in Hout Bay, is an indictment on the inappropriate services not only by the City of Cape Town, but also organisations that get involved and make promises to those living on the street and enjoy the publicity their involvement brings.
“Three years down the line, neither the City of Cape Town or any of these organisations have kept their word and those living at the Three Anchor Bay tennis academy and the residents of the area remain the losers as these individuals return to the streets and add to those living on the streets of Cape Town.
“If an intervention does not reduce the number of those living on the streets, then it is a failed intervention,” he said.
Ward councillor Nicola Jowell(DA) said in a statement that arrangements were underway to assist those who indicated they would move voluntarily, while social development services would continue to be offered.
“This has been a long road and at times there was a potential risk of it being derailed by a specific local (not local) political agitator who rather than helping the process may have significantly hampered it. Thank goodness sanity has prevailed and the agitator is hardly listened to anymore. Can you imagine if this hard year of prep was derailed?
“This is a legal eviction and whilst we feel for anyone having to live on the street, we must have law and order, follow all due legal processes and ensure that the rights of everyone are upheld.
“I’m very chuffed that the many hours I have put into this process have ended with the law being applied.
“Dignified, safe and caring opportunities will be offered to those evicted as part of this process.”