The City of Joburg is targeting buildings dilapidated buildings that are illegally accessing services as part of its cleanup efforts in the Johannesburg CBD (Central Business District).
On Tuesday the Acting Executive Mayor Kenny Kunene led a crackdown on such buildings in Marshalltown where scores of undocumented immigrants were arrested and illegal connections to the electricity grid were dismantled. Kunene said the city could not successfully reclaim hijacked buildings if those occupying them unlawfully continued to live in comfort with access to amenities.
“This is a multi-departmental programme. We’ve got transport and JRAs also here. We are going to look at illegal connections.We are going to look at the hijacked building but the buildings that the MMC through EMS has identified, EMS has done some reports on the risks in these buildings and that is why today we are starting this programme to go and do the disconnection of illegal connections, both water and lights,” said Kunene at the beginning of the crackdown on Tuesday.
A mere minutes into the operation Kunene personally apprehended several undocumented migrants in a dilapidated building in Marshaltown. The raid on the high rise building also uncovered several tuck shops and a crèche where children whose parents could not be found were being taught. The acting mayor had arranged for a number of vans ( belonging to Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department) to ensure those found in the wrong are detained on the spot.
“ you say you’re from Zimbabwe, where are your paper…
“No papers…. i don’t have papers….
“Take this one to the van now, he doesn’t have papers,” said Kunene while confronting an undocumented migrant.
Kunene said the Home Affairs department had been requested to join in on the operation (although the department was a no show)
“We have invited Home Affairs, immigration . We are waiting for them, but they will find us on the way.We’ll also check those who do not have the right papers to be in the City of Johannesburg and once we find them, then we find them, then that’s why we’ve got so many vans here.We are putting them in the vans so that they can go to Lindelela and go back to their countries but we are cleaning Johannesburg. This is part of the revitalisation programme of the City of Johannesburg that Mayor Morero has launched already,” said Kunene also indicating that the crackdown was part of an ongoing programme.
City Power personnel formed part of the raid and were quick to identify cables illegally connected the raided building to the electricity grid and dismantled them. The MMC responsible for utilities Jack Sekwayiya expressed concern with what appeared to be a level of sophistication in the wiring supplying electricity to the building from a point across the road. He said the connection could have possibly been made by a professional electrician attached to City Power or Eskom.
“What’s more concerning is the sophistication of the connection illegal as it is. I mean these people connected to another building across the road and were able to dig our own road for the cable to pass and then sealed the road. we wonder who did this and whether it could be our own people because it looks professional, how do you dig a road like this and seal it without anyone noticing. we may have to start looking among ourselves for potential enablers of this criminality,” said Sekwayiya.
Also part of the operation was the public safety MMC Mgcini Tshwaku who raised concern about the possible involvement of a syndicate after some occupants of the building revealed they were paying not less than a thousand rand per person each month to a “committee” of unidentified persons and that various groups had been in control of the building at various points often clashing amongst themselves with deadly consequences.
“We are told not less than 20 people have been shot and killed over the years in the battle for control of the building and that the groups have been eliminating each other so that suggests there could be syndicates at work here,” said Tshwaku during a doorstep interview.
The owners of the building were contacted through a representative and had promised to meet with municipal officials on wednesday. The representative told Kunene that the owners had tried to use the courts to prevent the hijacking of the building but ended up having to flee following threats by the hijackers who reportedly have planted spotters in the area to identify whoever tries to disrupt their criminal activities.
Kunene said the city would assist owners who come forward to reclaim their properties. The raided building was also found to be owing the City of Joburg an amount of no less than 4 million rand for electricity as part of an account that was abondoned years ago.
