Cape Town - The Western Cape High Court has ruled that an eviction case involving affordable housing agency Communicare should be tried again after it was initially dismissed by the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court.
The ruling follows allegations by Communicare that then acting magistrate Venice Burgins, who heard the case, was biased and should have recused herself.
Communicare argued that Burgins had on various occasions before hearing the eviction application, “published or associated herself with strongly worded and unambiguously hostile opinions about Communicare on social media”.
In the original matter, Communicare had been taken to the magistrate’s court by a tenant, Ncumisa Matu, who was fighting eviction over rental arrears.
Communicare, which approached the high court for the review and setting aside of the lower court’s proceedings, produced evidence to support their application affidavit, which Burgins did not oppose.
In their evidence, Communicare said that a few days after the dismissal of the matter in the magistrate’s court, a parcel containing various documents, including screengrabs of social media about the magistrate and her connection to the matter, had been delivered anonymously to their offices.
Communicare argued that the documents showed that Burgins was biased and had been duty-bound to recuse herself.
Judges Ashley Binns-Ward and Nobahle Mangcu-Lockwood said: “The examples of Burgins’ unjustified involvement of them in her adjudication of the case serve as ample substantiation of the reasonableness of Communicare’s apprehension that it did not receive an impartial hearing.”
The judges granted the review application and gave directions for the eviction application to be tried afresh before a different magistrate.