Plans afoot to tackle hijacked buildings
“We urge residents not to take the law into their own hands to settle disputes."
The City of Johannesburg is finally taking a stand with regards to dealing with hijacked buildings.
A plan is in place to establish municipal courts to curb the hijacking of buildings in the city and to improve the bylaw enforcement to deal decisively with crime.
The Region F Director, Ms Irene Mafune, said at the Intergrated Development Plan (IDP) consultation meeting over the weekend that the hijacking of buildings and lack of bylaw enforcement were some of the biggest weaknesses in the city.
“We want to tighten that up by setting up fully functional municipal courts to swiftly administer justice,” said Ms Mafune.
Residents of Region F are concerned that building inspectors are not doing their job and bylaw enforcement is lacking.
Jeppestown and Bezuidenhout Valley are some of the areas of Region F that have experienced a number of problems with regards to hijacked buildings.
“We urge residents not to take the law into their own hands to settle disputes. We enlisted the help of the Hawks, the elite crime-fighting unit, to investigate the hijacking of buildings in the city.
“As a result of the partnership, there has been steady progress in returning hijacked buildings to their rightful owners,” said Ms Mafune.
The issue of hijacked buildings has been a major issue in Jeppestown and Bezuidenhout because residents believe this contributes to crime.
These buildings are occupied by people who call these properties home, often without the proper property management and not knowing who owns the building.
On September 29, 2015, a building which was illegally occupied in Jeppestown burnt down.
The CoJ did not comment because they did not know if the building was hijacked, abandoned or if it belonged to the city.
