Help the Referendum Party end illegal land invasions in the Western Cape.
Illegal settlements have been able to thrive because the law effectively gives equal protection to residents regardless of whether they initially took up residence on a property legally or illegally. National legislation (the PIE Act) prevents local and provincial governments from removing illegal occupiers timeously, but Provinces are allowed to pass their own legislation.
Please support us by endorsing the Provincial Prevention of Illegal Evictions Bill which will draw a clear legal distinction between persons who took up residence legally and those who did so illegally.
You can read a copy of the Bill here
How will the bill end illegal land invasions?
The Bill will empower local and provincial government and private landowners to remove persons from their property where those persons have not at any point had permission or the legal authority to occupy that land.
This is an important distinction because the courts have currently interpreted that the constitutional right to not be arbitrarily evicted from your (lawful) home, extends to those who have never legally occupied their homes.
The result has been that an entire industry has been established designed to exploit this law to the considerable detriment of law abiding citizens. Criminal elements sell plots on land they do not own and provide instant dwellings to the illegal occupiers / residents. To remove them, the landowner must then engage in costly court actions which takes years, whilst the local government must provide the illegal occupiers with alternative homes.
Housing is a concurrent competence in the Constitution which means that both the national and provincial governments can pass legislation. At present, we only have national legislation (the PIE Act). The new Bill will create provincial legislation for the Western Cape.
This Bill will amend the definition of a home to require that for a structure to be defined as a home, the person living in it must at some point have had the permission of the landowner to take up residence. Where they have not, they can be removed by the local authority, police, or lawful owner of the property without a court order, and the local authority will not be obliged to provide those removed with alternative accommodation.