Hijacked buildings: Government admits lack of emergency housing is blocking evictions

By Thapelo Molefe

The government has identified about 2,400 non-compliant buildings across South Africa’s metropolitan municipalities as it prepares a coordinated plan to reclaim hijacked and abandoned properties.

Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said on Tuesday that the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Migration had adopted a consolidated report on problem buildings in the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities.

The report covers Johannesburg, Tshwane, eThekwini, Ekurhuleni, Nelson Mandela Bay, Mangaung and Buffalo City, as well as published information relating to Cape Town.

Kubayi said the assessment found that municipalities had the bylaws, structures and enforcement mechanisms needed to deal with hijacked buildings, but were struggling to execute eviction and remediation orders because they lacked funding for temporary accommodation.

“The constraint lies, amongst 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