Cape Town - The provincial government has lost its court bid to bar seven community leaders from interfering with a housing project in Delft.
It sought an interim interdict against the seven, alleging that they were central to organising a series of protests - some of which turned violent - at the site of the Delft Symphony 3 and 5 Housing Project between March 11 and 22, and that they caused the unrest.
The construction site was, at times, temporarily shut down and there had also been damage to the site.
But the Western Cape government’s application was dismissed in the Western Cape High Court yesterday.
Acting Judge Michael Wragge found that it was up to the applicants (in this case, the provincial government), to demonstrate that the seven - cited as Zwelohlanga Ndiki, Xolani Thomose, Vuyisile Goqoza, Nomthulizi Meyeki, Loyiso Mtana, Siviwe Nondomga and Mncedisi Kolisi - had committed acts that interfered with its rights, or that it had a well-grounded apprehension that they might do so.
He said that the community leaders’ advocate, Michael Bishop, had argued that there was no evidence that his clients had committed or encouraged violent or destructive acts.
“I agree… I am driven to the conclusion that, far from inciting the crowd, the respondents… took steps to pacify and disperse the crowd,” said Acting Judge Wragge.
According to his judgment, work on the project started shortly after the contract was signed with Group 5 Motlekar Cape Joint Venture - though, the award of this tender is subject to a judicial review that is still pending in the high court - in February.
Unrest had first broken out on the site on March 11.
Other incidents also occurred up until March 22, when a security company was hired to secure the site. Since then, there had been no further protests and the contractor had resumed its building operations. While certain of the seven community leaders had been present at certain of the protests, they had told the crowd to leave the site.
On March 13, after a meeting with the local councillor failed to take place, several of the community leaders had requested the crowd to go home.
After one of them was arrested the following day - and advised by the police that he had been arrested for vandalising the councillor’s house the previous night - he discovered that despite his pleas for the crowd to go home, the community had embarked on a protest without them because they knew that their leaders would try to stop them.
Acting Judge Wragge also awarded legal costs to four of the seven.
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