'Not just a legal failure but a moral outrage'

A Free State farm owner who unlawfully evicted a woman and her family during the Covid-19 lockdown has been ordered to rebuild the home he demolished, in what the Land Court has labelled a grave violation of constitutional and tenure rights.

- By Tshwarelo eseng Mogakane

The Land Court, sitting in Randburg, found that landowner Stephanus Francois van Niekerk and his company, Michael van Niekerk Eiendomme CC, had no legal grounds to eject the Khiba family from Quaggafontein farm near Ficksburg.

In an order granted on March 20, 2025, with reasons handed down on April 22 - Acting Judge Diana Mabasa condemned the eviction as “barbaric” and “callous”, and ruled that the family’s rights under the Extension of Security of Tenure Act were severely violated.

“The first and second respondents are ordered to take such steps as are necessary to reconstruct the demolished residential home within one month from the date of this order,” Mabasa directed.

The ruling was in favour of 62-year-old Manyaka Calastine Khiba, her daughter Karabo Mokhethi and niece Mathapelo Mokhethi, declaring their eviction from Quaggafontein farm unlawful and inhumane.