PA wants Parliament to amend the Prevention of Illegal Eviction Act

The Patriotic Alliance (PA) wants Parliament to amend a law that requires government to relocate people it evicts from hijacked buildings.

The PA has submitted a request to the Parliament Speaker seeking an urgent debate on the amendment of the Prevention of Illegal Eviction Act, also known as the PIE Act.

The party said this legislation has allowed criminal syndicates to unlawfully occupy hijacked buildings.

The driver behind the PA’s push to amend the PIE Act is its deputy president and also its mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Kenny Kunene.

Kunene said the City of Joburg has lost many eviction court cases due to the PIE Act.

Johannesburg is one of the cities with the largest problem of hijacked buildings, with over 600 of them recorded.

Kunene said this problem won’t be solved while the PIE Act remains as it is.

“It must say that it’s a criminal act to hijack a building and those who stay in the building must then take responsibility for their own alternative accommodation because they are in a hijacked [building]. They are staying in a building that went through criminality, but then it must still protect legal tenants.”

While the PA has submitted a notice, it remains the prerogative of the parliamentary Speaker on whether to table it for debate.

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