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SERI and Probono.Org hosted a soundboard meeting on the development of guidelines to the implementation of large-scale relocations in eviction cases and instances of voluntary relocation on 6 June 2014 in Johannesburg. The soundboard meeting was attended by representatives from various civil society organisations and legal NGOs and provided an opportunity for SERI to present its draft guidelines to the group. The guidelines draw on the legal principles that govern relocations, as developed through case law, as well as SERI's practical experience in implementing relocations. The guidelines will be published later in 2014.

On Friday 30 May 2014, SERI partnered up with the directors of the full-length documentary film "Dear Mandela" and Local Government Action (LGA) to host a pilot Dear Mandela audience engagement workshop for approximately 40 people in Lindelane informal settlement outside Daveyton. Lindelani residents face a severe lack of basic services and are subject to constant threat of eviction.

The workshop consisted of a screening of the film, which portrays the struggles of a number of young activists that are members of the shackdwellers social movement Abahlali baseMjondolo as they resist illegal evictions. The screening was followed by a discussion facilitated by the directors' of the film. Using the film as a springboard for discussion and learning, SERI engaged the community about defending themselves from illegal evictions, their right to protest and ways to engage local government officials. Further workshops will be organised based on this model in future.

• See photos of the workshop here.

Today SERI convened a civil society roundtable discussion on municipal indigent policies and the provision of free basic services (FBS) in South Africa. The roundtable marked the official launch of a SERI research report entitled "Targeting the Poor? An Analysis of Free Basic Services (FBS) and Municipal Indigent Policies in South Africa". A summary of the report is available here. 

The report provides an overview of the law and policies relevant to free basic services (FBS) and municipal indigent policies in South Africa. It details the regulations and strategies around FBS - which includes free basic water (FBW), free basic electricity (FBE), free basic sanitation (FBSan) and free basic refuse removal (BRR) - and examines the framework policy and implementation guidelines for municipal indigent policies.

SERI's research highlights problems with the implementation of indigent policies, around the following issues: targeting methods for FBS, municipal systems of indigent application, conditionalities attached to indigent status and FBS, and FBS amount provided. While the policy aim of the FBS programme is ensure that poor households are able to access basic services, its current implementation has the overall effect of targeting poor households for exclusion.

• Read the full report here.
• Read the summary of the report here.

Abahlali baseMjondolo has filed its heads of argument as amicus curiae in the Marikana land occupation appeal. The appeal will be heard on 27 May 2014 in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA). The occupiers are represented by the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), while SERI represents Abahlali as amicus in the appeal.

The case involves the occupation of a piece of privately-owned land, dubbed "Marikana", located in Philippi, Cape Town. The property owner and the City of Cape Town are appealing an order handed down by the Western Cape High Court in March 2014, which found that the City's Anti-Land Invasion Unit had unlawfully demolished informal structures on the land. The City was ordered to rebuild the shacks. The court rejected the City's argument that it was entitled to demolish structures without a court order if it deemed the structures were unoccupied.

This case raises important issues relating to the circumstances in which an organ of state may take steps to remove people and material from unlawfully occupied land, and/or demolish structures erected on that land, without an order of court authorising an eviction.

• Amicus curiae heads of argument here and practice note (15 May 2014) here.
• Read more on the case and download the other court papers here.