🇿🇦 A common phenomenon in South Africa is for large slums to appear overnight around middle-class or upmarket neighborhoods, causing crime in the area to skyrocket and property prices to collapse. Once someone has set up what is known as a "shack" or informal settlement and started living there, it becomes extremely difficult to remove that person. South African law protects these "homeowners" from eviction, even if they set up their new residence on someone else's property. The landowner has to apply to a court, which must consider whether eviction is "just and equitable," during which the court will consider factors such as whether children or elderly people are living there, a process which can take years.