Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act, 1951

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Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act, 1951 (short, easy-to-understand version)

What it was
- A South African law enacted in 1951 as part of the apartheid system.
- It allowed authorities to evict squatters and, in many cases, to demolish or remove unauthorized homes on land owned by others or by the state.
- It started on 6 July 1951 and was repealed in 1998 by a new law.

What it did (key points)
- It aimed to prevent illegal squatting on public or private land and to control occupation of land.

Main provisions (in simple terms)
- Section 1: People could not enter or stay on land or buildings without the owner's or lawful occupier’s permission. This also applied to native locations unless legally allowed by local authorities.
- Section 2.1: Violating Section 1 could bring a fine up to £25, up to three months in prison, or both.
- Section 2.2: If convicted again, penalties could rise to a higher fine (up to £25) and imprisonment for up to seven days for each day of the offence, or both.
- Section 3.1: Courts could issue eviction orders and could require people to leave land or buildings, including native locations or villages. Courts could also order removal and even destruction of illegal structures, sometimes moving people outside the original court’s jurisdiction.
- Section 3.2: Magistrates or Native Commissioners could decide to move displaced people to areas more suitable for housing or work.
- Section 4.1: Organising or charging for illegal squatting could lead to a fine up to £100, up to twelve months in prison, or both. Courts could seize funds obtained through illegal squatting.
- Section 4.2: Courts could order civil judgments to recover funds or fees earned from illegal squatting if they were not seized at conviction.
- Section 5.1: Magistrates could issue removal orders and relocate people to another area, with a notice process (three days’ notice in official and native languages) and supporting affidavits from landowners, occupiers, government departments, local authorities, or police.
- Section 5.2: Magistrates or Native Commissioners could decide to move displaced people again to a more suitable area.
- Section 6.1–6.4: Local authorities could set up emergency camps for displaced people, regulate health and sanitation, charge fees for accommodation and services, publish regulations, and apply different rules for different groups. If a camp became a native township, some existing laws could be exempted. The Governor-General could change or end the emergency camp status.
- Section 7: Obstructing police or authorized persons was illegal and carried penalties (up to £100 fine or one year in jail or both).
- Section 8: Magistrates’ courts had the jurisdiction to apply the Act.
- Section 9: Repealed earlier war-measures laws.
- Section 10: Defined what “local authority” means in the Act.
- Section 11: Governor-General could proclaim areas under the Act and later remove those proclamations.
- Section 12: Confirmed the Act’s name.

Context and impact
- The Act supported the forced removal of squatters and, in some cases, the destruction of their homes.
- It was part of a broader set of apartheid laws that controlled where Black South Africans could live and how land could be used.

Repeal
- Replaced by the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act, 1998, which changed how such issues are handled in South Africa.