Cape Town — Mayor Helen Zille made the first breakthrough in law in her antidrug campaign when the Wynberg Magistrate's Court yesterday ruled in favour of the city to evict tenants who were using a council house to sell drugs and liquor.

The civil judgment by magistrate Masudah Pangarkar is significant as it is the first time the city has succeeded in removing problem tenants from council-owned property since a moratorium on all evictions was introduced by the African National Congress during its reign at the council.

Pangarkar ruled that the defendants in the case, Shirley, Sabrina and Joseph Kemp, vacate the house in West Parkview, near Retreat, by December 10, or be evicted by the council on December 11 and that all illegal structures on the property be demolished.

Earlier the court heard that the council had, between 1999 and 2003, received a number of complaints for noise disturbance and rowdiness by the occupants of the house and that an illegal structure had been built on the property.

Pangarkar found that the occupants of the house represented a nuisance and that there had been criminal convictions against them.

The magistrate said it was undisputed that the occupants had, in fact, been using the premises as a shebeen.

Also, at the very least, there had been possession of, and use of, drugs on the property.

Liquor had been sold to children under the age limit, which was unacceptable, she said.

She said that in those circumstances the city could not be expected to provide the defendants with alternative accommodation -- not when they were being evicted from the premises for the reasons cited, and given that the city faced such a large housing backlog.

Pangarkar said telling the court during the hearing that they (the defendants) would demolish the illegal structures and that shebeen activities had been stopped was too late now, as they had been warned about their behaviour over a lengthy period.

Pangarkar said the council had indulged them on a number of occasions and had asked them to remedy the situa- tion over a number of years. They had ignored this and had carried on regardless.

She said the court and society found it unacceptable that the premises had been used as a shebeen and for drugs.

Pangarkar said she had to consider that the council had an obligation to both the community and the public.

Zille said yesterday she was thrilled with the judgment and described it as a "big breakthrough" for the council.

This had been the council's first court appearance in its concerted attempt to evict drug dealers, she said.

It would, she said, set a precedent as the council had failed to get such rulings in the past.

Zille said the council had another 50 cases in the pipeline, and the decision would help in speeding up those cases and would give the council more teeth.

She said it had taken many months of work to reach this stage.

It had, Zille said, taken a "frustratingly long time" to follow due process of law. This had been "obviously necessary in a constitutional state, but this ruling can be seen as a watershed," she said.

"There has been repeated filibustering from the other side.

"However, we've eventually got it through and I'm delighted," said Zille.