The applicants were evictees from a building in Berea following the Constitutional Court’s decision in Blue Moonlight, which required the City of Johannesburg to provide them with temporary accommodation. The City placed the applicants in the Ekuthuleni Shelter, operated by Metropolitan Evangelical Services (MES), subject to shelter rules. Two rules were challenged: (a) a ‘lockout’ rule requiring residents to leave the shelter during the day and return by set evening times, failing which they could be denied entry, and (b) a ‘family separation’ rule enforcing single-sex dormitories and separating opposite-sex partners and, in some cases, children from caregivers. The applicants argued that these rules infringed their constitutional rights to dignity, freedom and security of the person, and privacy. The High Court upheld the challenge; the Supreme Court of Appeal reversed that decision, finding the infringements reasonable. The applicants then approached the Constitutional Court.
Leave to appeal was granted and the appeal was upheld. The order of the Supreme Court of Appeal was set aside. It was declared that the lockout and family separation rules infringed sections 10, 12 and 14 of the Constitution. The City of Johannesburg and MES were interdicted from enforcing the rules against the applicants and were directed to allow opposite-sex partners to reside together in communal rooms. The City was ordered to pay the applicants’ costs.
The case affirms that people living in temporary or emergency accommodation retain full constitutional protection of dignity, privacy, and personal security. It clarifies that municipalities cannot impose coercive or degrading conditions on vulnerable residents under the guise of ‘managed care’. The judgment strengthens socio-economic rights jurisprudence by linking housing provision with respect for fundamental human dignity and autonomy.