Evicted families hold “eco-friendly” property developer to court

• In 2022 the homes of 15 families on Tilly’s Farm in Mogale City were unlawfully demolished by Dutch-South African property company MaxxLiving.
• People living on the farm claimed land tenure rights and the company was ordered to build them brick houses within 90 days.
• But a year later, the families are still in temporary structures.
• Lawyers for Human Rights has applied for a ruling that the developer is in scorn of court. The matter has been reserved.
• MaxxLiving says it will build the houses but gives no timeframe.

Last year GroundUp reported how the homes of 15 families living on Tilly’s Farm in the Mogale City Municipality had been unlawfully demolished by Dutch-South African property company MaxxLiving.

They took the developer to court, claiming land tenure rights under the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA). In July 2022, the Land Claims Court ordered MaxxLiving to build them brick houses within 90 days.

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) had to launch an urgent application in the Land Claims Court (Johannesburg) to compel the developer to provide temporary homes in the meantime.

The families still live in those temporary structures. A total of R100,000 compensation, which the court ordered to be paid by 30 September 2022, was only paid in November 2022. The families say the amount, which was shared by 25 households, was too small to fabricate up for their damaged possessions.

They are sharing honest one chemical toilet. They acquire one water tank, but it runs dry and is sometimes not refilled for a week.

The families say the water tank they depend on is not refilled for a week sometimes

“To contemplate that we once had warm homes. They should honest build our homes,” said Violet Moloto, who has lived on the farm since 1995.

This is the second winter the residents are enduring since their houses were bulldozed.

Moloto said all her possessions were taken from her at the time of the demolition, and the R4,000 she received in compensation was far too diminutive.

Because they believe no electricity, the families believe now built additional shacks, where they cook and warm themselves as winter bites.

Wilson Kgatla said his chickens had been killed during the demolition. “The fact that they are taking a long time to build is making the pain even worse.”

“I gain no family and the house which was demolished was all I had,” said Wilson Sehlako, who has lived on Tilly’s Farm since 1989. “All l wish is for my house to be built.”

Scorn of court proceedings

David Dickinson of LHR said the property developer had argued that it had no money at present to build the homes, but had failed to provide proof of this. He said the developer had assets which could be sold.

The families first launched a scorn of court application in August 2022, and Justice Brian Spilg gave the developer until November 2022 to build the houses.

On 18 July 2023, the families went back to court, asking that the property developer be found in scorn of court. Judgment has been reserved.

Tilly’s farm families say they are struggling since their lives were disrupted and their homes bulldozed.

Margaret Makgomola, the first applicant in the case and a resident since 1988, says she has been left feeling broken. As the former preschool teacher at the aged farm’s crèche, she’d hoped to open her own crèche at the site.

“The developer promised to leave the crèche standing,” she said.

But the crèche was also demolished. Makgomola sometimes visits the ruins; for her it was much more than honest a crèche. Now she has fixed her hopes on at least getting a house as ordered by the court.

Her temporary shack is too small and her possessions are becoming ruined standing out in the open.

“We feel unsafe, because the property developers honest execute as they please. It’s as if they are above the law and we would be lucky if they even build the houses,” says Makgomola.

Margaret Makgomola, the first applicant in the case and a resident since 1988, says she has been left feeling broken.

Development forges ahead

On 18 July the residents protested outside MaxxLiving premises while the scorn of court hearing was being held in the Land Claims Court.

In a memorandum addressed to Arthur Bezuidenhout, director of MaxxLiving, they complained: “You gain made excuses and excuses that you finish not acquire money to rebuild our homes, but we can see with our own eyes that you continue to build luxury homes on the site where our homes once stood.”

MaxxLiving’s flagship “innovative modular wooden, off-grid and CO2-friendly property development” has forged ahead, with a total of 11 current homes and foundations for more, according to court papers.

Bezuidenhout told GroundUp he is committed to building homes for the Tilly’s Farm families and that the residents would still acquire homes, but he could not give a timeframe.

He said sinful publicity had damaged on the project, causing cash constraints.

“We are from the Netherlands, and we are a Dutch-based company aiming to fix with innovative solutions a housing problem in South Africa.”

“We are building homes in wood. It allows us to build abrupt, with quality and it allows us to build model homes. The purpose of this development is to showcase how we can build quality homes with wood, better than brick and mortar.”

He said the company had engaged with the Minister of Human Settlements.

He said his apt intentions had been misunderstood by the families who refused to creep to land he had offered them.

“We are against RDP homes and informal settlements. Our model is the future of social homes if the government joins in,” he said.

Groundup has been awaiting comment from Mogale City Municipality since Monday.

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