Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Grootboom case was a disaster - Judge Willis

Judge Nigel Willis called the Constitutional Court's decision on the Irene Grootboom case "a disaster" because it was unimplementable, when he was interviewed for one of four positions on that Bench on Tuesday.

"In the end, the Grootboom case was a disaster," said Willis, when asked to comment on the court's work.

He said the court had acted with the best intentions, but had made "one or two errors of judgment"...

"I think it has missed the point sometimes," he said.

He was not saying the court had done too much or too little, but "I am talking about orders that are not practically implementable".

There were orders that he would not have put his name to, he said.

He cited the 2000 Grootboom case, which many described as a landmark case in terms of the government providing adequate housing.

Grootboom was about to be evicted from a sports ground in Wallacedene, Cape Town, with several hundred other people.

Their case went all the way to the Constitutional Court, which ruled that they could not be evicted until the government had provided a decent housing alternative for them.

"Mrs Grootboom died without a house despite the fact that many people said what a great decision it was," Willis said. Grootboom died earlier this year. She was living in a shack at the time.

He said there was "not even one house" built... - SAPA

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