symphony way row city slammed over marikana …

FRIDAY JANUARY 10 2014 13News

Daneel Knoetze

STAFFREPORTER

THE LEGAL Resources Centre (LRC)has slammed the City of Cape Town for“unlawfully” evicting people anddemolishing their shacks at theMarikana informal settlement inPhilippi this week.

In a letter to the city, the LRC’sSheldon Magardie demanded, onbehalf of the evicted residents, that thecity “immediately refrain from tak-ing further steps (towards) demol-ishing informal structures… exceptin terms of an order of court dulyobtained”. The residents also demand-ed that the city rebuild the structuresthat were demolished.

Failing this, the evicted residentswould today apply for an urgent inter-im interdict in the Western Cape HighCourt, Sheldon concluded.

Over the course of Tuesday andWednesday, the city’s Anti-Land Inva-sion Unit demolished dozen of shacks,leaving residents destitute.

The unit’s members did not presenta court order – which is a legal require-ment for an eviction to be carried out.When the Cape Argus visited the areaon Wednesday, there were collapsedshacks and furniture were litteredthroughout the settlement.

“We have lost many things,” WilliamMabula, one of the evictees, told theCape Argus yesterday.

“My (identity booklet) is missing.My food got ruined. My furniture hasbeen damaged… The eviction wasvery rough, and it was illegal. Who willcompensate me?”

Mabula, like many of Marikana’sresidents, moved to the open plot ofland off Symphony Way because helost his job and could no longer affordrent for a room.

“This was a bad place before. Therewas crime, people dumped dead bod-ies and stolen cars were stashed here,”he said. “Today there is no water andelectricity for us, but at least we are afriendly community and criminalsare no longer welcome.”

The land is owned by NTWADumela Investments and companyspokesman Oscar Saunderson yes-terday condemned the Marikana res-idents for “hijacking” the land andpreventing industrial developments“which could create thousands of jobs”.

He said the company had secured acourt order and that the residentswould be legally evicted at a later stage.

The city’s mayoral committee mem-ber for Human Settlements, TandekaGqada, has twice refused to answerquestions about whether the unit hada court order when evicting residents

this week. Nor would she answer ques-tions about why the unit over-extend-ed its apparent mandate by becominginvolved in a dispute between a privateland owner and land occupiers.

Last year she told the Cape Argusthat the unit was there to protect “city,provincial or state-owned land” frombeing invaded.

The city’s response also made littlereference to the residents’ demands viathe LRC. Instead, Gqada said thatthe city intends applying for a courtinterdict as well.

“The city has a duty to act accord-ing to the constitution in upholding therule of law,” Gqada said. “This includesa general duty to… take measures toprevent unlawful land invasions ofprivately-owned or State-ownedland…”

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

SYMPHONY WAY ROW

CITY SLAMMED OVERMARIKANA EVICTIONS

CZECH fugitive Radovan Krejcir’sapplication to overturn a ruling deny-ing him bail has been rejected by theHigh Court in Joburg.

Judge Leonie Windell saidyesterday she was satis-fied with magistrateReginald Dama’s deci-sion in the Palm RidgeRegional Court onDecember 13 to denybail to Krejcir, pictured.

Krejcir, Desai Luphon-do, and two members of theHawks, Warrant Officers SamuelModise Maropeng and George Jeff Nthoroane, were arrested inNovember.

They face charges of kidnapping,assault and attempted murder.

In the application, Krejcir’s teamquestioned Dama’s decision not

to allow them to undertakecross-examination based

on an affidavit submit-ted by the South AfricanRevenue Service.

Judge Windellupheld Dama’s decision

on this point and agreedthat Krejcir and his co-

accused were charged underschedule five of the Criminal Proce-

dure Act.In terms of schedules five and six

of this act, an accused must show

that it is in the interests of justice thatthey be released on bail.

For schedule six offences, how-ever, they also have to show thatthere are exceptional circumstancesjustifying their release.

Crimes regarded as schedule fiveand six offences include murder, rapeand robbery.

Judge Windell noted that Krejcirhad fled other countries to evadetrial and in fear of being murdered.

“Krejcir faces similar circum-stances in South Africa. There havebeen at least two attempts on his lifeand two of his associates were killed,”she said.

Krejcir had expressed the opin-

ion that he would not get a fair trialin South Africa. Also, he did not ownassets in South Africa, and hadnumerous business interests in othercountries.

“Being a foreign national does not,in itself, preclude the court fromgranting bail,” Judge Windell said.

She noted that Krejcir had hadno difficulty obtaining false traveldocuments and in hiding fromauthorities.

She said one witness in the casehad received death threats and thathis dogs had been killed.

Krejcir’s lawyer, Francois Roets,asked that the matter stand downuntil 2pm so his team could seek

leave to take the matter up with theSupreme Court of Appeal.

In June, Krejcir and his three co-accused allegedly kidnapped andassaulted a man whose brother,known only as Doctor, disappearedwith a 25kg shipment of tik he hadbeen recruited to help smugglethrough OR Tambo InternationalAirport.

They allegedly kept the man atKrejcir’s Money Point business inBedfordview, Joburg, for four days,and assaulted him.

Krejcir’s wife, Katerina Krejciro-va, was in court, but she left quicklyafter the judgment was handed down.– Sapa

BAIL RULING UPHELD

Krejcir loses bid for freedom, legal team to appeal

OUT IN THE COLD

Residents’ property was left exposed to the elements PICTURE: HENK KRUGER

Legal body

says shack

demolitions

were ‘unlawful’

HEAR US

Philippi residents callingthemselves the Community ofShack Dwellers march in the CBD

PICTURE: ADRIAN DE KOCK