Joburg appeals ruling over hijacked building

THE City of Johannesburg is heading to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to challenge a high court ruling ordering it to pay almost R12.4 million for failing to accommodate occupiers of a hijacked building.

- LOYISO SIDIMBA

In March, Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg Acting Judge Dephny Mahosi ordered the municipality to pay Changing Tides 74, owners of the 11-storey building known as Chung Hau Mansions on Jeppe Street in the city's central business district, nearly R12.4m after it failed to provide secure emergency accommodation to 249 men, women and children.

The city did not provide the accommodation despite being ordered by the high court to do so as the property was unlawfully occupied and referred to as a "hijacked building".

According to Changing Tides 74's submissions in court, the company stated that had it not been for the municipality's unlawful and negligent conduct, it would have regained possession of the property at the end of January 2013, renovated it for about 10 months and rented it out to students from February the following year.