A former farmworker of Nederburg Wines and his four children have been given three months to vacate the premises where they have lived for the past 25 years.
Nederburg Wines won a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) battle to evict Frans Nero and his adult children from the Paarl farm.
Nero had in 2011 tested positive following an alcohol test and was fired. He then went to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) for unfair dismissal, but later withdrew the case.
In 2013, Nero was told he needed to leave the property, but refused.
Nederburg Wines then lost a Land Claims Court eviction application and approached the SCA, arguing the court should have waited for a probation officer's report before deciding the matter.
The SCA ruled that section 9(3) of the Extension of Security of Tenure Act made it mandatory for the court to request a probation officer's report. Acting Deputy President of the SCA, Judge Jeremiah Shongwe said testimony showed Nero and his children's behaviour had become increasingly intolerable.
“They placed the other employees’ safety at risk by threatening them. Warning letters had been addressed to these children.
“The first respondent will not be rendered homeless as he stays with his second wife (who had been referred to in the papers as ‘life partner’). As for the adult, irresponsible and delinquent children they have no legal right to occupy the premises - their right existed while their father was still employed on the farm.” Judge Shongwe ordered the Drakenstein Municipality to find temporary emergency accommodation.