Govt targets over 2000 hijacked buildings in nationwide crackdown
The government has identified about 2400 hijacked and non-compliant buildings across South Africa’s metropolitan municipalities as it steps up efforts to reclaim properties being used for criminal activity.
Justice Minister Mamoloko Kubayi revealed the figure during an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Migration briefing on Tuesday, where she outlined government’s latest interventions to tackle hijacked buildings and strengthen migration management.
Kubayi said municipalities needed to identify and act against hijacked buildings using existing by-laws, structures and enforcement processes.
According to the IMC, the problem lies largely in the execution of enforcement measures, particularly when court orders for eviction or the remediation of buildings are issued.
“The constraint lies, among other things, at the point of execution because court orders for eviction or remediation cannot lawfully be carried out because municipalities have no funded temporary emergency accommodation to place occupants in,” Kubayi said.
Minister Kubayi said the Constitutional Court has repeatedly confirmed that the responsibility for providing temporary emergency accommodation rests with municipalities.
The IMC’s consolidated report drew on submissions from the cities of Johannesburg, Tshwane, eThekwini, Ekurhuleni, Nelson Mandela Bay, Mangaung and Buffalo City, together with published information on the City of Cape Town.
According to Kubayi, the report found that all eight metropolitan municipalities already have the necessary mechanisms to identify and deal with hijacked buildings.
None of the metros, she said, had asked the IMC for additional powers.
Instead, government has agreed on three priority interventions.
-Government’s three priority interventions-
The first is the development of a national funding model for temporary emergency accommodation, led by the Department of Human Settlements.
The second is for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to prioritise hijacked-building cases in the Magistrates’ and High Courts.
The third is the adoption of a single national definition and reporting template, to be coordinated by the Department of Cooperative Governance.
The interventions are aimed at ensuring that the scale of the hijacked-building problem is measured consistently across all eight metros.
Kubayi said the IMC also engaged mayors from the metropolitan municipalities, who validated the findings of the report.
At a meeting on September 2, mayors raised concerns about the loss of municipal revenue from hijacked buildings because of non-payment of rates.
They also highlighted excessive water and electricity consumption linked to buildings being used beyond their approved regulatory capacity.
Mayors proposed that vacant and under-utilised buildings be repurposed for student accommodation and affordable rental housing.
Kubayi said this could help prevent further inner-city decay while reducing the conditions that allow criminal activity to take hold.
-Criminal syndicates-
The government was also targeting criminal syndicates allegedly operating from hijacked buildings.
Kubayi said these groups are involved in the illegal collection of rent and other forms of abuse against people occupying the properties.
The crackdown on hijacked buildings forms part of the government’s wider five-point plan on migration management.
The plan seeks to restore public confidence in the migration system, strengthen the rule of law, secure South Africa’s borders, modernise migration systems and improve cooperation with regional and international partners.
The five areas of focus include cracking down on migration violations, securing the country’s borders, strengthening the immigration system, closing gaps in laws and policies, and working with other countries.
Kubayi said government has intensified multidisciplinary law enforcement operations targeting illegal border crossings, fraudulent documentation, labour exploitation, human trafficking networks, illegal mining and other forms of organised crime linked to migration vulnerabilities.
She said 205 cases have been registered, with 354 people arrested and 123 cases placed on the court roll.
More than 350 000 inspections have also been conducted across different industries and sectors, including factories, supermarkets and spaza shops.
According to the minister, businesses were found to be non-compliant with labour and health standards and other legal requirements, particularly in relation to the employment of undocumented migrants.
“We are continuing with this important work and once again would like to warn employers to respect the laws of the country and desist from deliberately employing illegal immigrants in their firms and factories,” Kubayi says.
Kubayi said 6317 labour inspectors and interns have been finalised for multidisciplinary law enforcement operations. This includes 4017 interns recruited and 2300 inspectors released for joint blitz operations.
The Department of Home Affairs has also advertised 301 immigration inspector posts, with the recruitment process expected to be finalised by the end of September.
The minister said that the work on hijacked buildings was ultimately about restoring the country’s inner-city environments while disrupting criminal networks operating from properties that have become centres of illegal activity.
