D- DAY FOR SCHUBART PARK RESIDENTS AND CoT LOOMING AFTER FAILED MEDIATION

The 9th of December is D-Day for former residents of Schubart Park and the City of Tshwane (CoT) to face off in court yet again.

This after the mediation process that had been recommended by the Pretoria High Court for the CoT and the former Schubart Park residents in November this year failed to produce an out-of-court settlement on Wednesday 3 December.

The mediation process was recommended by the court so as to allow the belligerent parties to reach consensus.

This as the court’s ruling to the losing litigant in this matter would be devastating and far-reaching.

The residents of Schubart Park were evacuated from their dwellings in 2011 and placed in student accommodation places like Ajo, Park View and Clarina.

According to MMC for Human Settlements Aaron Maluleka, the CoT has been paying for the accommodation of the evacuated residents at the said premises until January 2024; spending millions of rand which are now disputed in the City Council of Tshwane chambers chambers by some political parties as irregular and wasteful expenditure.

Now to avoid the “irregular or wasteful expenditure ” the CoT has decided to stop paying for the accommodation of the evacuated former Schubart Park residents and instead evict them from their present dwellings.

Be that as it ma, the former residents of Schubart Park, campaigning under the banner of the Schubart Park Residents Committee, insist that the CoT must continue paying for their accommodation and must also not evict them from their present dwellings as previously ordered by the Constitutional Court.

“Schubart Park residents went to court to oppose the back-door mass eviction of residents from their alternative accommodation because the CoT wants the court to declare that it (the CoT) has complied with the Constitutional Court’s ruling which was in favour of the residents,” said chairperson of the Schubart Park Residents’ Committee Ali Mashimbye in a statement released to the media.

“The impending eviction of residents by the City of Tshwane is a direct attack on the poor people whereby the City of Tshwane uses a lower court to neutralise the ruling of the Constitutional Court,” said Mashimbye.

“This is a travesty of justice against the poor residents who have the right to stay in town where there are economic activities taking place,” he said.

“This eviction is a betrayal of the struggle of our forefathers and mothers who fought for democracy and freedom for us not to be subjected to brutality by those who claim to be representing us,” fumed Mashimbye.

He insisted that the CoT lied under oath in the Pretoria High Court about renovating Schubart Park in 3 months.

“The majority of the evicted residents are women and children who are paying levies at their respective places of abode as agreed between them and the CoT,” lamented Mashimbye.

The battle-weary former Schubart Park residents are again represented by Lawyers for Human Rights, who had in the past withdrawn their services to the residents, citing depleted funds.

This resulted in the residents pulling funds together to pay for their own legal costs.

Mashimbye told Tshwane Talks that their eviction from Schubart Park around 2011 has affected their lives badly since they now don’t have a way forward, are distressed and frustrated, and now to make their lives even worse, the City of Tshwane wants to evict them from the place of abode which the City of Tshwane itself had placed them since 2011 as an alternative shelter.

The said alternative shelter are places which are student accommodation shelters and Mashimbye complained that the said places are overcrowded.

These places of abode are Ajo, Parkview and Clarina, and are situated in the Pretoria CBD.

In response, the City of Tshwane indicated in a communique to Tshwane Talks that it has been paying rent on behalf of the aforesaid residents to their landlords since September 2011 and that a decision has been taken to stop this practice as it depletes the City of Tshwane’s funds and also because many of the aforesaid residents earn way above the R3 500 stipulated threshold and this disqualifies them from having their rent being paid by the Municipality.

“Payment of rent and utility services for the aforesaid residents at Clarina, Parkview and Ajo are not sustainable for the City of Tshwane as millions of rand have already been spent on people who are eligible and capable of paying for their own rental,” read the CoT’s statement.

“Occupancy audits and affordability assessments that were conducted over the years have revealed that some tenants own houses or are renting apartments elsewhere while sub-letting the CoT’s housing units and collecting rent from vulnerable people, while others among them earn way above the R3 500 as stipulated in the National Housing policy and many if these tenants have refused on many occasions to cooperate and provide the necessary information to the City of Tshwane for a thorough assessment to be completed,” read the CoT’s statement.

Regarding the refurbishment and future tenants of Schubart Park, the CoT released the following communique:

“The property has been handed to the lessee/ developer who is currently busy with project implementation to develop it and once the project is completed, all residents of Tshwane who wish to occupy the Schubart Park flats as tenants need to apply and will be subjected to vetting processes that include former Schubart Park tenants.”

The statement emphasised that occupancy of the renovated property will be determined by the vetting results and the rental affordability thereof.