The organisation was responding to footage of Bulelani Qolani being forcefully evicted from his illegal shack in the eThembeni area of Khayelitsha, in Cape Town, on Wednesday. 

Qolani was taking a bath when the city's anti-land invasion tried to drag him from the small structure. 

The Western Cape's MEC for community safety, Albert Fritz, condemned the incident, and called for an investigation into the matter. The South African Human Rights Commission also condemned the incident. 

Amnesty International's executive director for South Africa, Shenilla Mohamed, said: “The incident once again highlights the brutality of forced evictions. Everyone has the right to housing, to dignity, and what was witnessed in eThembeni yesterday is inhumane. No human being should be treated in this way whatever the circumstances."

Mohamed said Amnesty International called on the City of Cape Town to carry out an in-depth investigation into the incident, and to make the findings public. The officers responsible should also be held accountable.

"The government must also ensure that all those who are found to be victims of forced evictions and other human rights violations have access to effective remedy which includes compensation, reparation, and guarantees of non-repetition."

The organisation said that forced evictions constituted a gross violation of human rights, including the right to adequate housing "and must be prohibited in law and practice".

It said that despite a call from the United Nations' special rapporteur on the rights to adequate housing, which urged the halting of evictions, there had been several reports of forced evictions countrywide. This included evictions from informal settlements and encampments. 

The special rapporteur made the call so that citizens would be able to shelter in place and protect themselves from the coronavirus pandemic. 

South Africa’s Prevention of Illegal Eviction Act outlines that no person may be evicted without a court order. Under the country's current level 3 Covid-19 lockdown, courts can hear eviction matters and grant eviction orders but these cannot be executed. 

"Tearing down homes and making people homeless in the midst of the pandemic, and winter, as the lockdown continues, is adding insult to injury. This must stop and it must stop now,” said Mohamed. 

African News Agency