Case Law[2022] ZASCA 61South Africa
Frannero Property Investments 202 (Pty) Ltd v Clement Phuti Selapa and Others (222/2020) [2022] ZASCA 61; 2022 (5) SA 361 (SCA) (29 April 2022)
Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa
29 April 2022
Headnotes
Summary: Land tenure - Extension of Security of Tenure Act 62 of 1997 – onus to prove application of – the party who invokes the Act bears the onus – sufficient evidence must be tendered.
Judgment
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## Frannero Property Investments 202 (Pty) Ltd v Clement Phuti Selapa and Others (222/2020) [2022] ZASCA 61; 2022 (5) SA 361 (SCA) (29 April 2022)
Frannero Property Investments 202 (Pty) Ltd v Clement Phuti Selapa and Others (222/2020) [2022] ZASCA 61; 2022 (5) SA 361 (SCA) (29 April 2022)
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sino date 29 April 2022
THE SUPREME COURT
OF APPEAL OF SOUTH AFRICA
JUDGMENT
Reportable
Case No: 222/2020
In the matter
between:
FRANNERO PROPERTY
INVESTMENTS
202 (PTY) LTD
(Previously Frannero
Property Investments 202 CC)
APPLICANT
and
CLEMENT
PHUTI SELAPA
FIRST
RESPONDENT
DIMAKATSO
SEMELA
SECOND
RESPONDENT
KHENSASI
MABUNDA
THIRD
RESPONDENT
GEORGE
NGOVENI
FOURTH
RESPONDENT
FREDDY
RAPAO
FIFTH
RESPONDENT
SYLVIA
MABUNDA
SIXTH
RESPONDENT
UNLAWFUL
OCCUPIERS OF PORTION 35
OF THE FARM
WATERVAL 306,
REGISTRATION
DIVISION JQ,
NORTH
WEST PROVINCE
SEVENTH
RESPONDENT
RUSTENBURG
LOCAL MUNICIPALITY
EIGHTH
RESPONDENT
DPARTMENT OF
RURAL DEVELOPMENT
AND
LAND REFORM
NINTH
RESPONDENT
DEPARTMENT OF
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
AND HUMAN
SETTLEMENT
TENTH
RESPONDENT
together with
UNIVERSITY
OF THE FREE STATE
LAW
CLINIC
AMICUS CURIAE
Neutral
citation:
Frannero
Property Investments 202 (Pty) Ltd
v
Clement Phuti Selapa and Others
(case
no 222/2020)
[2022] ZASCA
61
(29
April
2022)
Coram:
DAMBUZA
and MOTHLE JJA and MEYER, SMITH and WEINER AJJA
Heard:
30
November 2021
Delivered:
This
judgment was handed down electronically by circulation to the
parties' representatives by email, publication on the Supreme Court
of Appeal website and release to SAFLII. The date and time for
hand-down is deemed to be 10h00 on
29
April
2022.
Summary:
Land
tenure
-
Extension
of Security of Tenure Act 62 of 1997
– onus to prove application of
– the party who invokes the Act bears the onus – sufficient
evidence must be tendered.
ORDER
On
appeal from:
North
West Division of the High Court, Mahikeng (Nobanda AJ with Hendricks
DJP and Nonyane AJ concurring, sitting as court of appeal):
1
Special
leave to appeal is granted;
2
In
relation to the respondents whose names appear in schedule A attached
to this order the appeal is dismissed;
3
In
relation to the rest of the respondents the appeal is upheld. The
order of the full court is set aside and replaced with the following
order:
‘
1
The appeal is upheld.
2 The
application is referred back to the high court for determination of
the application brought in terms of the Prevention
of Illegal
Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act 19 of 1998.
3 There
shall be no order as to costs’.
4
There
shall be no order as to costs.
JUDGMENT
Dambuza
JA (Mothle JA and Meyer, Smith and Weiner AJJA concurring)
Introduction
[1]
The issue in this application for special leave to appeal is whether
a community of about 300 people who
occupied the applicant’s
property known as Portion 35 of the Farm Waterval 306 in Rustenburg,
Northwest Province (the property),
were occupants under the Extension
of Security of Tenure Act 62 of 1997 (ESTA). Aligned to that is the
question whether the termination
of their rights to occupy the
property by the applicant was lawful, and whether the order of
eviction sought by the applicant should
be granted.
[2]
Following its termination of the rights of the community to occupy
the property, the applicant, Frannero
Property Investments 202 (Pty)
Ltd (Frannero), brought an application in the North West Division of
the High Court, Mahikeng (Djaje
J (high court)) to evict them from
the property in terms s 4 of the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from
and Unlawful Occupation of
Land Act 19 of 1998 (PIE Act). That court
found that it had no jurisdiction to hear the eviction application
because the first to
seventh respondents were occupiers in terms of
ESTA and that their occupancy rights had not been lawfully terminated
as prescribed
in that Act. On appeal, the full court of that Division
(Nobanda AJ with Hendricks DJP and Nonyane AJ concurring), confirmed
the
finding that the respondents were occupiers under ESTA and
dismissed the appeal. This application for special leave to appeal
follows
the dismissal of that appeal.
BACKGROUND
[3]
The property was initially owned by Rustenburg Platinum Mines (RPM).
It was used as a water source in
that water was pumped from it to
RPM’s mining sites. A single rondavel on the property was used to
accommodate RPM’s employees
who worked on the water pumps.
[4]
In 1983 the property was registered in
the
name of Mr
Felix
Formariz. He then built a house thereon. In 1992 he came to live on
the property. From 1996 he started constructing more buildings
on the
property consisting of small rooms with a general ablution area.
[1]
From 2000 he started leasing the rooms to mine workers through oral
rental agreements concluded with them. Occupation was on a month
to
month basis. Rental was payable at the beginning of each month, and
the agreements were terminable on a month’s notice by either
party.
Only the tenant and one other person were permitted to occupy a room.
Mr Bucks was employed as a manager of the rental enterprise.
Between
2001 and 2010 various tenants came to occupy the property and then
vacated it.
[5]
After Mr Bucks’ departure, Mr Formariz discovered that his tenants
had developed a practice of vacating
the rooms without giving notice,
and they would substitute unauthorised tenants when vacating the
rooms. Some of the unauthorised
tenants defaulted on rental payments.
In 2011 Mr Formariz employed Mr Francisco de Matos as the manager. By
this time the rental
buildings consisted of 5 blocks, referred to as
Blocks A, B, C, D and O. Only Block B had power supply, with a
commensurately higher
monthly rental.
[6]
During 2012 Mr Formariz applied successfully to the Portfolio
Committee: Planning and Human Settlement
at Rustenburg Local
Municipality, in terms of s 96 read with s 69 of the Town Planning
and Township Ordinance 15 of 1986, for the
establishment of an
Industrial Township known as Waterval East Extension 60 on the
property. The property was rezoned accordingly
in September 2012. By
this time 50% of the tenants were defaulting with rent payment. Mr de
Matos held meetings with the tenants
to discuss the non-payment of
rentals. At those meetings the establishment of the Industrial
Township on the property and an impending
sale thereof to the
applicant were also discussed. However, the non-payment of rentals
persisted despite the discussions.
[7]
Mr Formariz instructed his attorney, Mr Adriaan Wessels, to assist in
resolving the problems experienced
with the tenants. At a meeting
held with the tenants during October 2012, Mr Wessels advised the
tenants that because non-payment
of rentals had persisted, eviction
orders had been obtained against several ‘illegal occupiers’. He
also advised them again about
the rezoning of the property, together
with the imminent sale thereof to the applicant.
[8]
On 29 October 2012 a sale agreement was concluded between Mr Fomariz
and the applicant’s predecessor
in title. In that same year the
applicant took occupation of the property and was in charge thereof.
The tenants were advised that
the rental agreements concluded with Mr
Fomariz would be honoured, provided that they paid the rentals.
During August 2014 the applicant
had the number of the industrial
erven on the property increased from 22 to 34. It then gave written
notices of cancellation of the
lease agreements, through its
attorneys, during September 2014 to all tenants in the following
terms:
‘
WRITTEN
NOTICE OF CANCELLATION OF VERBAL LEASE AGREEMENT
To: All TENANTS and
OCCUPIERS residing at the property known as PLOT 35 WATERVAL.
. . .
We confirm the
following:
l) The premises
occupied by you was sold to the client and stands to be registered in
the name of our clients shortly;
2) In terms of the
sale agreement all risk and benefit have already passed to the
purchasers and it is as a result thereof that they
have several
rights, including the right to let these premises to you, to accept
rent, to cancel such lease agreement and to claim
occupation,
possession and undisturbed use of the premises;
3) You are a tenant
of these premises in terms of a verbal lease agreement between
yourself and the previous landowner, Mr Felix Formariz,
alternatively
in respect of a verbal lease agreement between yourself and the
client, which agreement was concluded after the client
had purchased
the property from the previous landowner;
4) The property was
rezoned by the Rustenburg local Municipality to industrial land and
the client intends developing an Industrial
park on the property;
5) Prior to our
client purchasing the property you were verbally informed of the fact
that these premises were to be sold and that
the new owner will claim
ownership of the property;
6) During 2012 and
after several applications for eviction were concluded by the
previous landowner - Mr Felix Formariz, one Mr Adriaan
Wessels from
the firm Grabler Vorster Attorneys attended the premises and met with
all tenants at that stage occupying the premises.
Amongst others it
was discussed that the premises was then in the process of being
sold, that the premises were never zoned for the
purpose of
residential housing and that the new landowners will require the
tenants to vacate the premises at some stage;
7) Subsequent to the
aforementioned you have remained in occupation of the premises by
virtue of your verbal lease agreement with
Mr Felix Formariz,
alternatively by virtue of your verbal lease agreement with our
client;
8) Take note that
this however now serves as your
30 (THIRTY) days written notice of
cancelation of the verbal lease agreement
and your lease shall
terminate on the 31
st
of October 2014;
9) You are therefore
required to vacate the premises by no later than 31 October 2014;
10) Should you fail
to vacate as aforesaid your occupation of the premises shall become
illegal on the 1
st
of November 2014 in terms of Section 4
of the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of
land Act 19 of 1998
as you will then not have any consent or
permission from the purchaser to occupy the premises;
11) Should you fall
to vacate the client will stand to suffer damages in respect of the
loss of beneficial occupation of the premises
being withheld from
them and further damages;
TAKE NOTICE:
1) You are hereby
informed in writing that this serves as your 30 (THIRTY) DAYS WRITTEN
NOTIFICATION OF THE CANCELLATION OF YOUR VERBAL
LEASE AGREEMENT;
2) Your lease term
shall terminate on the 31
st
of OCTOBER 2014;
3) You are Informed
in writing that you should deliver all keys to the said premises at
Grobler Levin Soonlus Attorneys at the corners
of Beyers Naude Avenue
and Brink Streets, Rustenburg by no later than 14:00pm on 31 October
2014;
4) Should you fail
to adhere to any of the above mentioned, an application for your
eviction from the premises will follow. You shall
be held liable for
all costs of the Application for your Eviction, which will be issued
as a matter of urgency, as well as further
damages which may have
been caused by your Unlawful Occupation of the said property.’
It is not in dispute
that the notice was delivered to all the tenants.
[9]
Through their attorneys, the tenants denied that they had been
advised of the impending sale of the property.
More pertinently they
asserted that they had been in occupation of the property for almost
30 years and the applicant could not cancel
the agreement
unilaterally and without an order of court.
[10]
Subsequent thereto, Mr Formariz, who was still the legal owner of the
property, instructed the municipality to disconnect
the electricity
supply to the property. A borehole located on the property also
stopped working. This caused the tenants to institute
proceedings in
the Rustenburg Magistrates Court, seeking an order against the
applicant for restoration of the disconnected services
(the
spoliation application). However, that application was later
withdrawn. The applicant refused to have the electricity reconnected,
even though the respondents did make a payment towards the
electricity account. For their part the tenants refused to pay rent
and,
in addition to demanding restoration of electricity supply, they
wanted their rooms upgraded and the property cleaned. They were
told
that this could not happen in view of the anticipated change of
ownership. Ultimately, the Rustenburg Municipality made arrangements
for water supply and cleaning of the property.
[11] On
27 February 2015, the sale agreement concluded with the applicant’s
predecessor in title was cancelled and replaced
with one concluded
with the applicant. According to the applicant, by May 2015 the
amount of outstanding rentals had escalated to
R944 504.50. The
property was transferred to the applicant on 7 August 2015. In that
same month the applicant instituted proceedings
in the high court for
eviction of the respondents.
[12] In
the application for eviction, the first six respondents were the six
tenants that had been the applicants in the
spoliation application
(in the magistrates court), as office bearers of the tenants’
representative organization. The seventh respondent
were the rest of
the tenants, cited as ‘Unlawful Occupiers of Portion 35 of the Farm
Waterval 306, Registration Division JQ, North
West Province’.
[13] Mr
Francois Grobler, the applicant’s director, explained in the
founding affidavit the difficulties of tracking
down each and every
tenant because they worked different shifts and because of the
unauthorised sub-letting. He estimated the average
period of
occupation of the current occupants to be no longer than three years.
[14] As
foreshadowed in the cancellation notices the applicant contended that
the respondents were unlawful occupiers
of the property. It pleaded
that cancellation of the leases was effected in terms of the oral
lease agreements, alternatively, in
terms of the
Rental Housing Act
50 of 1999
. It asserted that the respondents stopped paying rent in
2014 and arrear rentals had accumulated to R944 504.50. It
lamented
the poor condition of the property, saying that the
respondents were living in hazardous conditions as there was neither
water nor
electricity supply on the property. It contended that there
was sufficient alternative accommodation in Rustenburg wherein they
could
be accommodated.
[15]
In asserting their claim that they were occupants in terms of ESTA,
the respondents highlighted that they had the
previous owner’s
consent to occupy the property from 2000 until 2012, and thereafter
the applicant’s consent until, at least,
2014. They insisted that
they had been in occupation for more than 5 years and disputed the
validity of the cancellation, saying
they were never afforded an
opportunity to make representations prior to termination of their
rental agreements. The termination
of their lease agreements was
therefore not just and equitable
,
so they
contended.
They
pleaded that some of them were not employed, and others earned less
than R5000 per month. They maintained that their rental agreements
were terminated because the applicant wanted to develop the property
into an industrial park rather than because of arrear rentals.
[16] In
the answering affidavit, Mr Paulino Chivola Chivura alleged that he
had lived on the property since 1990 and that
at some stage he was
the manager and assisted in collecting rentals, a claim which was
disputed by Mr Formariz. The disputed fact
was not material because,
as will become apparent in the discussion that follows, the
respondents (or some of them) started to reside
on the property, at
the latest, from 2001. When the notices of lease cancellation were
issued in 2014, the earliest occupants had
been occupiers for 13
years. Although Mr Chivura insisted that the present respondents had
been in occupation since 1997, he did
not deny that over time, there
was no control over tenants’ change of occupancy of the property.
And it was not in dispute that
the notices of termination of
occupancy rights were given to all tenants that were in occupation in
2014.
[17] The
Municipality lamented the shortage of housing, land and financial
resources to enable it to meet its Constitutional
obligation of
providing residents with housing. The Municipal Manager, Mr Nqobile
Sithole, stated that contrary to the applicant’s
contention, it was
‘impossible’ for the municipality to provide housing
accommodation to the large number of respondents in this
case. He
listed several other landowners within the Rustenburg Municipality
precinct who, collectively, were trying to evict about
4000 tenants.
[18]
In dismissing the appeal, the full court found that the high court
had correctly upheld the respondent’s special
plea, that the
respondents were occupiers under ESTA and that it lacked jurisdiction
to determine the application. However, contrary
to the finding of the
high court, the full bench found that the onus was on the respondents
rather than the applicant, to show that
their occupation was
regulated under ESTA, including proving that their income was less
than the prescribed amount of R5 000.00.
[2]
The respondents had discharged that onus, so held the full court.
In this court
[19] The
application for special leave to appeal was premised on the ground
that the respondents had failed to prove that
they were occupiers in
terms of ESTA. It was submitted on behalf of the applicant that once
the 30 day period given in the cancellation
notices expired the
respondents became unlawful occupiers.
[20]
However, the relief sought by the applicant had transformed to
include an order that, in the event of this Court
finding that it was
just and equitable to grant an eviction order, such order should be
made conditional on the State buying the
property or finding
alternative accommodation for the respondents within two months of
the order. In the event of that option not
succeeding, the State had
to consider expropriating the property from the applicant or paying
constitutional damages to it, so it
was contended. These suggestions
emanated from the contents of an affidavit filed by the
ninth
respondent, the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, in
which it was stated that the Department was investigating
the
possibility of acquiring the property. But that is as far as the
communication by the Department went. No proper case had been
made
for this Court to make an order compelling the Government to buy the
property from the applicant.
Appeal Discussion
[21]
In
Randfontein
Municipality v Grobler & Others
[3]
this
Court
said
the following about the two pieces of legislation on which the
parties rely in this case:
‘
ESTA and PIE were
adopted with the objective of giving effect to the values enshrined
in ss 26 and 27 of the Constitution. The common
objective of both
statutes is to regulate the conditions and circumstances under which
occupiers of land may be evicted. The main
distinction is that
broadly speaking ESTA applies to rural land outside townships and
protects the rights of occupation of persons
occupying such land with
consent after 4 February 1997, whilst PIE is designed to
regulate eviction of occupiers who lack
the requisite consent to
occupy. Occupiers protected under ESTA are specifically
excluded from the definition of 'unlawful
occupier' in PIE. An order
for the eviction of occupiers may be granted under ESTA by a
competent court on just and equitable grounds,
having regard to the
different considerations applicable in each instance. The Land Claims
Court is a specialist tribunal established
by
s 22
of the
Restitution
of Land Rights Act 22 of 1994
and enjoys jurisdiction, subject to
ss
17
,
19
,
20
and
22
of ESTA, to deal with cases determined under ESTA.
It follows, therefore, that if the land was occupied with consent,
either express
or tacit, the jurisdiction of the High Court to deal
with it is excluded in the absence of consent to its jurisdiction.’
This excerpt sums up
the legal principles applicable in the determination of the issues in
this appeal.
[22] The
jurisdictional facts for the application of ESTA relate to:
(a)
the person occupying the land, and
(b)
the land that is
occupied. In terms of
s 1(1)(x)
of ESTA an ‘occupier’ is:
‘
a
person residing on land which belongs to another, and who as on 4
February 1997, or thereafter, had consent or another right in
law to
do so, but excluding –
(a)
a
labour tenant in terms of the Land Reform (Labour Tenants) Act, 1996
(Act No 3 of 996); and
(b)
a
person using or intending to use the land in question mainly for
industrial, mining, commercial or commercial farming purposes,
but
including a person who works the land himself or herself and does not
employ any person who is not a member of his or her family;
and
(c)
a
person who has an income in excess of the prescribed amount.’
[23]
Section 2 regulates the land to which ESTA applies. Section 2(1)
provides that ESTA applies to:
‘
. . . all
land other than land in a township established, approved, proclaimed
or otherwise recognised as such in terms of the law,
or encircled by
such a township or townships . . .’
[24]
Consistent with the basic common law principle that ‘the party who
alleges must prove’, which is applicable in
the determination of
the incidence of the onus in civil cases, the burden to prove that
ESTA applies in relation to a specific occupier
rests on the occupier
who invokes the application of the Act. The occupier must bring
herself within the ambit of the Act by proving
that she complies with
all the components of the definition of an occupier in the Act,
including that she is not excluded from the
application of the Act
under s1(1)(x).
[4]
[25]
However, the occupier is assisted by a number of presumptions
contained in the Act. In relation to consent s 3(4)
of the Act
provides that:
‘
For
the purposes of civil proceedings in terms of this Act, a person who
continuously and openly resided on land shall be presumed
to have
consent unless the contrary is proved.’
There is also a
deeming provision provided for in s 3(5) of the Act in terms of which
a person who has continuously and openly resided
on land for a period
of three years shall be deemed to have done so with the
knowledge
of the owner or a person in charge.
[26] In
relation to the land occupied a presumption that operates in favour
of the occupier is contained in s 2(2) of
the Act, to the effect
that:
‘
(2)
Land in issue in any civil proceedings in terms of the Act shall be
presumed to fall within the scope of this Act until the contrary
is
proved.’
This presumption
meant that once the respondents raised the special plea under ESTA,
the property had to be presumed to fall within
the scope of the Act
unless the applicant proved the contrary. In any event there was no
dispute about the fact that when the property
was zoned in 2012, the
respondents were already tenants thereon.
[27] The
dispute related to whether they were the kind of persons who
qualified as occupiers in terms of ESTA. Apart from
the fact that the
presumptions operated in favour of the respondents, an
acknowledgement that the respondents did, at some stage,
have consent
to reside on the property, or could be presumed to have had such
consent, was implicit in the applicant’s own case,
although much
was made of the inability to ascertain when exactly some of the
occupiers took occupation. Such acknowledgement was
apparent from the
cancellation notices. Therefore the respondents did not need to prove
that they did have consent to reside on the
property.
[28]
However, the onus to prove that they were not disqualified under the
exclusions remained unsatisfied. Once more it
was apparent from the
evidence that the respondents were not labour tenants and they were
not using or intending to use the property
for industrial, mining or
commercial purposes. What remained was for them to prove that their
income did not exceed the prescribed
amount.
[29] The
evidence tendered by the respondents in this regard consisted of a
single sentence in Mr Chivura’s answering
affidavit, that the
‘[m]ajority of the Respondents are unemployed and do not earn an
income in excess of R5 000 per month’.
Such a bare averment
was not adequate for the discharge of the onus on the respondents to
prove that their income did not exceed
the prescribed maximum income.
The respondents’ income was a matter peculiarly within their
knowledge. Casting the burden of proof
on them in this regard was not
unduly harsh. On the other hand placing such a burden on the
applicant would cause undue hardship.
[30] Mr
Chivura’s evidence was hearsay. He did not explain how he got to
know of the income earned by each tenant or
‘most tenants’ on the
property. He did not specify the amount of income earned by such
tenants nor did he identify the respondents
who were unemployed or
earned less than R5000.00. Only 15 of the 48 deponents to
confirmatory affidavits filed with his answering
affidavit said they
were unemployed. The rest said they were employed but did not divulge
their earnings. They merely stated the
dates on which they took
occupation of the property and then went on to confirm the contents
of Mr Chivura’s affidavit in so far
as it related to them. Yet Mr
Chivura never referred to any of his co-respondents by name.
Curiously, Mr Chivura gave no evidence
as to his own employment
details and earnings. Then there was no evidence on the rest of the
300 occupants. Consequently only the
15 respondents brought
themselves within the ambit of ESTA.
[31] It
was submitted on behalf of the applicant that if this court were to
grant leave to appeal and uphold the appeal
it should decide the
eviction application in line with the suggested order. On the other
hand the amicus submitted that there was
insufficient information on
record, particularly on the respondents’ circumstances and the
impact the eviction would have on them.
This court should therefore
refer the matter back to the high court.
[32] It
was the responsibility of the respondents to respond in full to the
allegations made by the applicant in support
of the PIE application.
Such is the nature of motion proceedings. In the answering affidavit
Mr Chivura stated that the 48 affidavits
represented a portion of the
respondents’ confirmatory affidavits and that the remainder would
be made available to the court should
it be necessary to do so. No
further evidence was made available to court. There is no explanation
as to what the anticipated evidence
would be and why it was not
tendered to court as would be expected.
[33]
Nevertheless it is true that because of the technical approach
adopted by the respondents in raising their special plea,
neither the
high court nor the full bench dealt with the merits of the
application brought by the applicant based on the PIE Act.
This is in
contrast to the position in
Odvest
182 (Pty) Ltd) v Occupiers of Portion 26 (Portion of Portion 3) of
Farm Klein Bottelary No 17, Botfontein Road (‘The Property’)
and
Others
[5]
wherein,
although pleading that ESTA was applicable instead of PIE, the
occupiers consented to the jurisdiction of the high court.
In this
case this Court would be determining the issues brought under the PIE
Act for the first time on appeal, something which it
has always been
reluctant to do. In fact, there is no decision of the high court on
the PIE Act application. It would therefore be
undesirable for this
court to determine the issues arising in that application on appeal.
[34] In
the end I am satisfied that the applicant did make out a proper case
for special leave to be granted in this case.
The approach to
determination of the onus and satisfaction thereof under ESTA is
significant and important. Its clarification will
benefit not only
the applicant; it is a point of law of general public importance.
[35] The
following order is granted:
1
Special
leave to appeal is granted;
2
In
relation to the respondents whose names appear in schedule A attached
to this order the appeal is dismissed;
3
In
relation to the rest of the respondents the appeal is upheld. The
order of the full bench is set aside and replaced with the following
order:
‘
1
The appeal is upheld.
2
The application is referred back to the high court for determination
of the application brought in terms of the Prevention
of Illegal
Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act 19 of 1998.
3 There
shall be no order as to costs.’
4
There
shall be no order as to costs.
N DAMBUZA
JUDGE OF APPEAL
SCHEDULE
A
1.
Bontie Dlamini,
2.
Caroline Sebaya,
3.
Khensane Jane
Mabunda.
4.
Kholiwe Blayi,
5.
Masego Philadelphia
Khoza,
6.
Mpho Lekaba,
7.
Nkhabeng Thresia,
8.
Okafor Pased,
9.
Petrus Bushy Sebaya,
10.
Pretty Lesego
Mashigo,
11.
Saphirah Busang,
12.
Sebase Precy
Mokgwatsane
13.
Thotyelwa
Motshwaedi,
14.
Victor Nyatho, and
15.
Zukiswa Mkrweqe.
Appearances:
For
applicant:
JHF
Pistor SC with GV Maree
Instructed
by:
Falcon & Hume Inc, Sandton
Webbers,
Bloemfontein
For
respondents:
No
appearance
For
amicus:
JFD Brand with RN Ozoemena
[1]
The
respondents asserted that Mr Formariz came to live on the property
in 1990. This dispute of fact has no significant bearing
on the real
issues in this court.
[2]
In 2018 this
amount was increased to R13 625.00 by GN 72 dated 16 February
2018 and GN 84 dated 23 February 2018.
[3]
Randfontein Municipality v
Grobler and Others
[2009]
ZASCA 129
;
[2010] 2 All SA 40
(SCA) at para 4.
[4]
Skhosana
and Others v Roos t/a Roos se Oord and Others
2000
(4) SA 561
(LCC) at 572H-574. See also CP Smith
Evictions
and Rental Claims- A practical guide
Chapter
5 at para 5.9.4.
[5]
Odvest 182
(Pty) Ltd v Occupiers of Portion 26 (Portion of Portion 3) of Farm
Klein Bottelary No 17, Botfontein Road (‘The Property)
and Others
(19695/2012)
[2016] ZAWCHC 133
(14 October
2016).
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