A group of District Six residents have picketed outside the High Court in Cape Town against an eviction order.
This comes after the cottages they have been living in for many decades in Searle Street were sold to a private developer, who has obtained an eviction order.
The residents have appealed to halt the process and preserve their right to remain in their homes.
Their lawyer, Frankl Weber, says the matter has been remanded until January 2027.
Weber says, “There’s been an eviction order granted, and we’ve lodged an appeal against the eviction order that was granted in the Cape Town Magistrates Court and the owner of the property has lodged an application to dismiss our application to appeal because there were some time delays for us obtaining the transcripts. There’s an agreement for a postponement so that we can file papers.”
The eviction order was granted by the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court in January this year under the Prevention of Illegal Eviction Act, ordering the families to vacate the Victorian-era cottages by 6 March 2026.
The families are among the last remaining residents of District Six, where tens of thousands of people were forcibly removed under apartheid.
The City has confirmed it has no vacant emergency housing available within the District Six precinct or the Cape Town CBD, as most land in the area is state-owned and reserved for District Six land restitution beneficiaries.