Jeremiah Zulu and Another v Emalahleni Local Municipality and Another

The applicants resided on a farm at Plot 97, Nooitegdacht 300 JS, Kromdraai, within the Emalahleni Municipality. The first applicant occupied the land under a lease concluded with the municipality in 1988, while the second applicant and his family had resided on the land since 1980 with consent derived from prior employment of his parents. Both applicants engaged in subsistence farming. In 2016, the municipality issued a notice purporting to cancel the lease and commenced steps to establish a township on the property, including pegging out stands and allowing people to move onto the land. These actions interfered with the applicants’ grazing and crops. The applicants sought a final interdict to restore their undisturbed possession and prevent further interference.

The respondents were ordered forthwith to restore the applicants’ undisturbed possession of the farm at Plot 97, Nooitegdacht 300 JS, Kromdraai. No order as to costs was made.

The case reinforces the strong protective purpose of ESTA and confirms that municipalities, like private landowners, are bound by its provisions. It affirms that interference with grazing land and crops can constitute a form of eviction, and that long-term occupiers are entitled to robust protection against unilateral state action, even where township establishment processes are underway.