CONCOURT DENIES APPEAL IN CONSTANTIA LAND CASE

Ruling upholds transfer of land to Sadien family after restitution claim

- GENEVIEVE SERRA

THE Constitutional Court refused direct leave to appeal with costs to the South African Riding for the Disabled Association (Sarda) against a Land Court order regarding a 15-year Constantia land restitution claim by the Sadien family. Sarda has called the decision an injustice.

The court papers stated: “On application for direct leave to appeal from the Land Court of South Africa, Randburg: Leave to appeal directly to this Court is refused with costs.”

The matter concerned Erf 2274, Constantia, which was dispossessed from the Sadien brothers in 1963 due to the Group Areas Act. In 2013, the Land Claims Court ordered the transfer of state-owned Erf 142, which Sarda occupied, to the Sadien family.

According to court papers, on November 13, the matter was heard and finalised.

In response to the outcome, Sarda said the judgment was flawed.

“The Constitutional Court's judgment of November 13 has perpetuated the injustice suffered by Sarda, whose rights were compromised by an illegally obtained Land Court order in 2013. In 2013, the Land Court unlawfully awarded supposedly vacant state land to an individual claimant, Sediek Sadien, contravening its own rules and the Restitution Act.

“The November 13, 2025 Constitutional Court judgment is flawed.”