By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
23 December 2024 – The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements, Nocks Seabi is of the considered view that the Constitutional Court Judgement that compels the City of Cape Town to provide Bromwell Street residents with temporary emergency accommodation in the inner city and as close to their current homes as possible is a reaffirmation of spatial equality and upholds the dignity of largely marginalised communities.
Seabi’s comments follow the Constitutional Court judgement delivered on Friday following an eight-year legal battle to stop the eviction until the City of Cape Town has developed a new housing programme, incorporating transitional housing.
“The judgement is important for two aspects, the fact that it entrenches the right to transitional housing on one hand and the importance of spatial justice on the other.
“The committee has always emphasised the importance of housing opportunities that are closer to economic centres to transform the spatial apartheid that marginalised mainly the poor to areas far away from city centres compelling them to spend inordinate amounts of their earnings on transport,” he said.
Seabi further said this judgement sets an important legal framework to safeguard the rights and dignity of the people.
The Guardian 