Gezina camp already unkept with stolen tents. FF Plus says relocation displaces problem without solutions.
The area surrounding the Melgisedek building that has become a haven for drug dealers and users, 26 July 2022, Pretoria. Picture: Jacques Nelles
The fate of more than 450 residents of Pretoria’s Melgisedek “bad building” remains uncertain after yet another court ruling stalled their relocation to a temporary tented camp in Gezina.
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) have filed a reconsideration application before the Supreme Court of Appeal, arguing that forced removals without dignified alternatives would deepen the crisis.
High Court halts Tshwane relocation of 450 people
Human rights groups, opposition parties and local residents warn that the city’s plan risks creating a “modern‑day concentration camp”.
After the initial application for leave to appeal was dismissed last Friday, LHR spokesperson Louise du Plessis said LHR filed a reconsideration application on Monday, based on new evidence submitted by an independent engineer and was now awaiting an outcome.
“The solution is that the homeless policy that has been adopted must be implemented. It wants to go far in assisting the homeless in the city and not relocating people into a tent village.
“There is no space for the children,” she said.
Du Plessis said there was no long-term plan and that’s what concerns LHR the most.
‘Victory’ for human rights
buAfriForum’s spokesperson for Pretoria, Llewellynn Hemmens, said the High Court in Pretoria’s decision on Tuesday to reject the City of Tshwane’s application to implement a court order for the relocation of about 450 residents of the Melgisedek building was a victory for human rights.
Hemmens said the court’s refusal to enforce a previous order for the forced removal of residents to a tented camp in Gezina, while an appeal process was ongoing, shows the law must be followed.
He said without AfriForum’s initial intervention, the city was likely to have carried out the forced relocation of residents.
“The planned relocation will have far-reaching consequences for the residents of Melgisedek and those of Gezina,” he said.
“We all agree that the circumstances in which the Melgisedek residents are living are not appropriate. However, the solution does not lie in simply moving the problem – especially not to a tent‑ ed camp reminiscent of a concentration camp.”
Resident has problem with state of temporary camp
Gezina resident Tom Kruger said he didn’t have a problem with the relocation, but had a problem with the state of the temporary camp.
“We hear some of the tents have been stolen, despite the city placing security guards at the property,” he said.
“The tents that stood neatly in rows already look flimsy and the yard unkept… and the residents haven’t even moved in yet.”
Kruger said residents were concerned about crime in the area when the relocation happened.
Freedom Front Plus Tshwane caucus leader Grandi Theunissen said the city’s proposed plans to simply relocate vulnerable residents to a tent town lacking basic amenities “were immoral and infeasible from the outset”.
‘Immoral and infeasible’
“Rehousing people under such dire conditions borders on creating a modern-day concentration camp,” he said.
“It would not solve the underlying socioeconomic challenges, but would merely displace the problem and create an even greater crisis elsewhere.”
Theunissen said what makes the city’s approach even more unacceptable was the fact that a private developer stands ready to provide these individuals with proper, dignified housing at their own expense.
“This ruling sends a clear message that the disruption of human lives without viable and dignified alternatives will not be tolerated,” he said.
