Zulu and Others v eThekwini Municipality and Others

The appellants, 390 individuals, alleged that they had been living since about September 2012 on Erf 1112, Mobeni, Durban (known as the Lamontville property), where they erected informal homes after being unable to afford rental accommodation. They claimed that the eThekwini Municipality’s Land Invasion Control Unit repeatedly demolished their shacks without court orders, on approximately 24 occasions. The property is owned by the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works and earmarked for a low-cost housing project. In March 2013, the MEC obtained an interim interdict (rule nisi) from the KwaZulu-Natal High Court authorising the Municipality and SAPS to prevent invasions, demolish structures erected after the order, and remove materials on several properties, including the Lamontville property. Although the MEC acknowledged in her affidavit that people were occupying the property, those occupiers were not joined. The appellants applied for leave to intervene in those proceedings, arguing that the interim order affected them and amounted to eviction without compliance with the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act 19 of 1998 (PIE). The High Court (Kruger J) refused leave to intervene. The appellants appealed to the Constitutional Court.

The appeal was upheld. The order of the High Court refusing leave to intervene was set aside and replaced with an order granting the appellants leave to intervene as third and further respondents. The first and third respondents were ordered to pay the appellants’ costs jointly and severally.

The case clarifies that interim interdicts aimed at preventing land invasions may, depending on their wording and effect, amount to eviction orders affecting existing occupiers. It reinforces the principle that persons whose occupation may be curtailed by such orders have standing to intervene and that PIE protections cannot be bypassed through broadly framed interim relief. The judgment strengthens procedural fairness and access to court for vulnerable occupiers in eviction-related litigation.