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Court victory for Saldanha Bay church on the verge of being evicted by municipality.
- Another court bid to have a church evicted in Saldanha Bay was dismissed.
- In June, Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath dismissed the municipality’s application to evict the Uni-Faith Ministries Church.
- The municipality sought to appeal Goliath’s ruling.
The Western Cape High Court on Thursday dismissed, with costs, a second court bid brought by the Saldanha Bay municipality to remove a local church.
In June, Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath dismissed the municipality’s urgent application to evict the Uni-Faith Ministries Church.
The municipality resolved to approach the high court last year because it wanted to commence construction of a housing development in the area. It instructed its legal team to approach the court for leave to appeal against the judgment.
On Thursday, the high court dismissed the municipality’s application for leave to appeal, ruling that the arguments raised by the municipality were without merit.
In court papers, the municipality said the building project for much-needed housing was being delayed by the failure of the church to vacate the premises.
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In the eight-page judgment, Goliath found no merit to granting the leave to appeal.
The judgment read:
The main grounds of appeal were inter alia that the court had erred in incorrectly applying trite legal principles applicable in eviction/ejectment matters, failed to properly assess statutory processes relating to an environmental authorisation and land use rights, and erred in ordering the applicant to retain, incorporate and accommodate the church in the existing main building which was utilised as a creche.
It added that the applicant (the municipality) essentially argued that the court violated the separation of powers doctrine, and granted incompetent relief, more specifically relating to the order enforcing the terms of an environmental authorisation.
The judgment said the approach adopted by the municipality was obstructionist, and they had persisted with its view that the property occupied by the church needed to be demolished.
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“However, the environmental authorisation conditions provided that the existing church and creche should be retained and accommodated in the development. It is common cause that the building occupied by the creche was not earmarked for demolition, and the church requested applicant’s approval to move into this building with the permission of the creche. The applicant refused to entertain the request and elected to institute urgent court proceedings, claiming the respondents were delaying the building project,” it said.
The church opposed the municipality’s appeal and argued that the position of the church was compromised as a result of the fact that the applicant subsequently rezoned the erf on which the church was located, allegedly in contravention of the environmental authorisation.
According to the church, they were not consulted about the rezoning, which necessitated the demolition of the church building.
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The court ruled the municipality had misled the court in framing the urgent application as a dispute involving a lease agreement, which had expired in the normal course.
“The applicant therefore failed to disclose that it had initiated a public participation process relating to the new development,” it said.
The pastor of the church, Izak Rudolph, said they were happy with the victory.
“This victory over the municipality is not just a victory for us, but for the Body of Christ as a whole. The Church of God has a vital role to play, especially in these very uncertain times we live in. The community needs God’s church. We just going to continue with what we did for the last 20 years, and that is to help, feed and support our poor in our communities,” he said.
The municipality said it was still studying the judgment before deciding on the way forward.
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