Judicial enforcement of the right to protection from arbitrary eviction: lessons from Mandelaville

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Periodical article

Title:	Judicial enforcement of the right to protection from arbitrary eviction: lessons from Mandelaville
Author:	Wilson, Stuart
Year:	2006
Periodical:	South African Journal on Human Rights
Volume:	22
Issue:	4
Pages:	535-562
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	resettlement informal settlements legal procedure
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2006.11864901
Abstract:	A case study of the exercise of judicial discretion in the enforcement of the right to protection from arbitrary evictions in s 26(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, analysing the implementation and impact of court-sanctioned forced eviction and relocation of Mandelaville, a community of some 6000 informal settlers in Johannesburg, during early 2002. The analysis emphasizes the adverse impact of the relocation on access to livelihoods and social services in the relocated community. It is argued that the forced relocation could have been prevented, or its impact ameliorated, had the judge ordering the eviction exercised his discretion in a manner which took the needs and vulnerabilities of South Africa's urban poor more seriously. Enormous power is assigned to judges in adjudicating applications for the eviction of large numbers of very poor people. That power needs to be exercised with a deep sensitivity to the particular needs of South Africa's poor. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]