Joburg shelter infringes residents’ rights to dignity, Constitutional Court says
On Friday, the Constitutional Court held that the rules of a temporary shelter provided by the City of Johannesburg infringed on residents’ rights to dignity‚ freedom and security of the person and privacy. The shelter’s residents had been evicted from a dilapidated private building. Not only did the shelter not allow spouses to sleep together, but residents also had to leave in the morning and return before lockdown every night. According to the Court, the rules did not pass constitutional muster and needed to be struck down. The case had its beginning in 2007‚ when the owners of a building in Saratoga Avenue‚ near Doornfontein, Johannesburg applied for the eviction of 86 people. In 2012, the Constitutional Court ordered the eviction of the remaining 33 residents‚ and that the residents be provided with temporary accommodation as near as possible to where they had been evicted. The city provided the residents with accommodation at the shelter. But the residents complained about the...
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