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The Strandfontein camp where the homeless were relocated around the city of Cape Town.
- The Human Rights Commission is considering taking legal action against the city of Cape Town, following comments made against its commissioner Chris Nissen.
- The remarks were made after the Western Cape Superior Court dismissed an injunction preventing human rights monitors from entering a relocation camp.
- The relocation camp in Strandfontein housed some 2,000 homeless people during Level 5 of the national lockdown.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is considering taking legal action against the city of Cape Town, following “an attack on SAHRC Commissioner Chris Nissen”.
The city lashed out after a Western Cape Superior Court ruling dismissed an injunction granted to the city in 2020, preventing SAHRC human rights monitors from entering the city’s infamous homeless relocation camp in Strandfontein.
The camp housed some 2,000 homeless people, relocated from different parts of the city at the beginning of the national shutdown, in accordance with the Disaster Management Law, to curb the spread of Covid-19.
READ | Cape Town’s homeless lockdown camp poses high transmission risk – Doctors Without Borders
The SAHRC said in a statement:
The injunction followed a report published by the SAHRC that exposed disturbing conditions at the camp. In response, the City went to court for an injunction, arguing that the Commission and its monitors had caused disturbances in the camp and were spreading ‘misinformation and lies’.
The Western Cape Superior Court has dismissed this injunction, granted to the City in 2020, and ordered the City to pay the costs of the hearing.
The SAHRC said the judgment handed down by Judge Siraj Desai on Wednesday reaffirmed the “constitutional mandate of the SAHRC to independently exercise its powers to protect, promote and, more specifically, monitor the achievement of human rights.”
‘Flagrant disregard for the sentence’
However, following the sentencing, the City of Cape Town issued a statement saying: “SAHRC Provincial Commissioner Chris Nissen deployed political opportunists to play politics and tell lies about South Africa’s biggest effort to help the people who live on the street “.
“It was necessary to protect our staff from harassment and our operations from disruption by so-called ‘monitors’ who behaved instead like political hooligans.
“We are relieved to receive the interim relief, which prevented ‘monitors’ from blocking entrances and harassing staff. The interim relief had the necessary effect and allowed the City to complete its work without interference. By the time the Court assigned the hearing date for a final order, there was no need to decide the final remedy as the matter had become moot, but the defendants insisted that the matter should continue. “
READ: OPINION | Homeless in Cape Town: Councilor blind to the facts and the irony of what he stands for
The statement added that the City did not necessarily agree with the Desai cost ruling and would consider its options.
The SAHRC said it viewed the City’s statements in a serious and disturbing light and was considering further legal action.
He said:
The Commission considers these statements as a flagrant ignorance of the sentence, since it is an attack on the SAHRC, Commissioner Chris Nissen and the decision of the Court. Therefore, the Commission is considering its options to take appropriate legal action to protect its independence and that of its Commissioners, as well as the constitutional powers to fulfill its mandate.
“The Commission finds it worrying, that as a result of a ruling affirming the constitutional powers of the Commission and the rights of the most vulnerable, which are the homeless, that Cape Town chooses to issue such a declaration,” he said. . .
