Right to Decent Shelter: Let Down by the Judicial System in SA
Channel: SACSIS
Date: 2013-06-14

Professor Bonita Meyersfeld of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand talks to Fazila Farouk of SACSIS about her organisation's work trying to protect the most vulnerable from eviction in the inner city of Johannesburg.

Often the judicial system itself finds itself on the wrong side of social justice where judges have a tendency to protect property rights over shelter rights.

In this interview, she talks about a particular case where a judgement was made to allow an eviction order. The judge argued that lots of people live under bridges, so its okay for these people to leave the building. Three days later, one of the evicted residents, a young woman, gave birth to a baby and was living under the bridge with the newborn.

For a transcript of this interview please visit the SACSIS website at http://sacsis.co.za/site/article/1697.