Nine property owners who bought land from the City of Johannesburg years ago were unable to occupy their land and had to pay taxes despite not having access to basic services. Now they want the court to send the city officials to prison. Archive photo: Ashraf Hendricks
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A group of property owners in Soweto are demanding a one-year prison sentence for Johannesburg city officials for failing to comply with two court orders.
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Between 2009 and 2014, nine landowners purchased their land in the Zondi district of Soweto as part of the City of Johannesburg’s land regularisation process.
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The aim of the process was to sell thousands of municipal properties to the population and thus enable them to acquire land and home ownership.
- However, in October 2017, the owners sued the city after realizing that there was no infrastructure to provide basic services and that they could not build their homes but had to pay fees and taxes.
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In December 2021, they returned to court to seek an injunction against the city.
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They are now demanding that the officials responsible – including a senior manager of the Joburg Property Company, the municipal manager and the mayor – be sent to prison for a year.
A group of property owners in Soweto are demanding the arrest of Johannesburg city officials for failing to comply with two court orders.
The nine owners who bought land through the legalization process implemented by the city were unable to occupy the land and had to pay taxes and fees, even though their plots were not connected to basic services. The aim of the city’s legalization process was to sell thousands of municipally owned plots to local residents, thus giving them access to land and home ownership.
But these owners say they have been let down. And despite two court orders requiring the City and its agent, the Joburg Property Company, to install basic infrastructure in the area to enable them to build on their stands, more than five years later, this has still not happened.
The property owners, represented by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), purchased their properties in the Zondi district of Soweto between 2009 and 2014.
In October 2017, they went to court for the first time after learning that there was no infrastructure to provide basic services and that they could not build their houses but had to pay fees and taxes.
They asked for an order declaring the city’s actions unconstitutional and ordering it to install the necessary infrastructure and write off the fees. A settlement agreement was reached by court order. In it, the city agreed to install the infrastructure and announced that a special council meeting would be called under the Municipal Construction Act to grant approval for the installations.
The owners say that order was not followed. And in December 2021, they went back to court and obtained another order stating that the city was now in contempt of court. But this had little to no effect.
Now the residents have initiated further proceedings in the Gauteng High Court for contempt of the building.
They also want the court to find that the conduct in their case is unconstitutional and illegal.
Pamela Duduzile Nkosi, speaking on behalf of the owners, said in an affidavit: “The crux of this application is accountability. The issues raised in this application concern the accountability of state institutions and officials not only for their contemptuous conduct before this court but also for the failure to discharge their constitutional duties even after these have been clarified by this court.”
According to Nkosi, five years have passed since the first contract was awarded and yet they have not been given a valid reason why they still do not have large-scale infrastructure.
Nkosi attached a long list of correspondence between CALS and the town’s lawyers, which revealed that at some point a “working committee” was set up to monitor the situation, that there had been instability in the community and that there was a need to speak to the district council about the installations.
As for the bills, Nkosi said it finally looked like the debt had been written off in May 2024. But they still felt “uneasy” about the bills being reissued and they still had no electricity or water.
In a statement this month, the city said the request was premature “given the concerted efforts of both parties to implement the court order.”
“To date, the City has made significant progress in implementing the court order. The write-off report has been approved and the City’s debt collectors have been notified. In addition, the area is supplied with electricity by Eskom and CALS has been instructed to advise its customers to apply for electricity individually from Eskom.”
The city added that a major contractor had been hired but was rejected by the municipality and the contract was subsequently terminated. A meeting with the council and the municipality is planned for this week to find a solution.
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