Press statement: High court dismisses TUT rescission application in student eviction case

The North Gauteng High Court has dismissed a rescission application brought by the Tshwane University of Technology against a contempt order obtained by Lawyers for Human Rights in 2014.

LHR is acting on behalf of evicted students.

LHR launched the contempt application after TUT failed to comply with an urgent order to allow students back into residences from which they had been unlawfully evicted during protests in February 2014.

In an effort to circumvent the contempt application, TUT brought an application for the rescission of the first order that was granted on an urgent basis. TUT elected not to settle the matter by simply issuing an apology to the students and court for its failure to comply with the order.

TUT claimed the order was erroneously sought and granted. They alleged the order declaring the evictions unlawful was a class action that should have been certified before the urgent application was launched. They also claimed there was no proper service or notification.

In dismissing the rescission, the high court found that when it came to the enforcement of the Bill of Rights in matters of this nature, no prior certification of a class action was required. On the issue of notification and service, the court noted that TUT dealt with the notifications “in a cavalier manner”.

“The judgment brings to an end some of the wasteful and unnecessary litigation TUT management has elected to engage in. It highlights the university’s failure to respect the law, basic fundamental rights and the courts that uphold it,” said Louise du Plessis of LHR’s Land and Housing Programme.

The hearing into the contempt application against TUT will now proceed.