- The Eastern Cape High Court granted urgent relief to families living near KT Mchasa Secondary School, suspending an eviction order that would have left them homeless within 10 days.
- The court found that the residents were not properly notified of the original eviction proceedings and emphasised that affected individuals must be clearly identified and given an opportunity to be heard.
- The eviction dispute will continue in a rescission hearing, with the families now formally joined to the case; meanwhile, the demolition order remains suspended, and their homes are protected.
Families living near KT Mchasa Secondary School in Tsolo have won urgent protection against an eviction order that would have forced them to tear down their homes within 10 days.
The Eastern Cape High Court in Mthatha acted after residents claimed they were never notified of the earlier court proceedings and would become homeless.
The applicants, Mandobandile Mdlazi and Nonene Gigi, told the court their families have lived on the land for decades, long before the school was built. Part of the original land was voluntarily given up to make room for the secondary school, but the rest, they argued, remains private homestead land. When they returned home this month, they found a demolition order waiting on a dressing table.
The court agreed that neither applicant was properly served with papers notifying them of the eviction hearing held on 30 September. Had they known about the case, they insisted, they would have attended.
“If the applicants had approached the court in due course on the normal roll of cases, the ten-day period would have come and gone,” Acting Judge DV Pitt said, noting that the families faced the risk of becoming homeless.
Court emphasises right to be heard
The judge found it concerning that the eviction order was granted without naming the people affected. In a significant statement, the court stressed that when houses, children, and livelihoods are at stake, clear identification is critical.
“It is in the interests of justice that this is considered,” Judge Pitt said, adding that the families had shown a clear defense against the original eviction application.
The judgment also questioned whether the school and its governing body had the legal power to start eviction proceedings. According to the applicants, only the provincial education department could act as the landowner, and the local municipality should have been asked to report on alternative housing to prevent homelessness.
Land and legacy
Mdlazi explained that his grandparents legally received the land decades ago under the former Transkei government. Their family later allocated a small portion to Gigi after traditional authorities approved the transaction in 2020.
He argued that the school's fenced boundary has never been damaged or breached. From his point of view, the urgent eviction case in the Eastern Cape stems from misunderstandings and poor consultation. “We should meet with the community and traditional authority to resolve the dispute,” he said.
The court allowed the families to formally join the original case and suspended the demolition order. The dispute will now continue under Part B of the application, where the residents seek to overturn or change the original ruling. Until then, their homes may not be bulldozed.
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