Housing activists ask court to uphold right to protest

Last year Reclaim the City activists occupied Cape Town city centre’s Site B property because it was bought from the City by GrowthPoint at a price way below market value. Archive photo: Ashraf Hendricks

Housing activist group Reclaim the City (RTC) occupied the property by building shacks, with members of #UniteBehind and of the Social Justice Coalition on 4 December 2018, to protest against the sale of the site for about R140m less than it was worth.

Growthpoint applied for an urgent interdict to prevent the occupation, which was granted the same day.

This interim order barred the protesters from entering the premises.

RTC, #UniteBehind and Social Justice Coalition say the interdict was issued without notice to them and Growthpoint failed to disclose the fact that it knew the activist group, as they were described as land occupiers rather than protesters. The organisations are now asking the court to uphold the constitutional right to protest.

Growthpoint attorney Sean Rosenberg described the protest as political theatre.

The court reserved judgment, extending the interim interdict in the meantime.

This follows RTC’s action last Thursday where it interrupted a city council meeting, demanding updates to the forensic investigation into the controversial land deal.

Original article published by GroundUp.