Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said over 20 buildings in the Johannesburg CBD would be released for housing refurbishment.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has defended his hardening stance on evictions and hijacked buildings.
Lesufi was on Tuesday responding to questions in the provincial legislature after he announced last week that evictions would be used to deal with the rise in informal settlements.
The province has seen the erection of an additional 400 informal settlements in the past year and the premier said the time had come to deal with the issue “mercilessly”.
Housing in Johannesburg
The plan being formulated is focused on dealing with hijacked buildings in the Johannesburg CBD and housing opportunities across the municipality.
Lesufi said the Johannesburg Property Company’s special projects unit was preparing to take over 22 buildings with the intention to release them via tenders.
The release aims to redevelop the buildings and parcels of land into mixed used developments through a public private partnership.
The portfolio of properties open for redevelopment is due to be released by the end of October, but several still need to be cleared of occupants.
Through the department of human settlements, the city is sourcing alternative accommodation and has a tiered approach to relocations which the premier said would be done according to the law.
‘Repackage’ social housing projects
The short-term solution is to move occupants to vacant city-owned land using “compact modular construction methods” with a fixed cost of R89 000 per 24 square metres, excluding land acquisition costs.
JPC has an additional portfolio of 30 vacant buildings that are to be refurbished for medium term occupation, with the final stage being the revitalisation of failed stagnant housing projects.
“Our long-term approach is to repackage inactive city of Johannesburg human settlement properties — including Johannesburg Social Housing Company-owned properties,” Lesufi said.
Leader of the provincial opposition Solly Msimanga urged the premier to ensure the timelines were compact, as unoccupied premises were susceptible to re-hijacking
To bolster security, Lesufi said crime prevention wardens would be deployed to sites under the supervision of existing law enforcement.
This forms part of the province’s five-step plan to secure the buildings using crime intelligence, pro-active policing, combat operations, crime investigation and communication.
‘They will not receive flowers’
Human settlements committee member Alan Fuchs suggested Lesufi’s stance on increasing evictions was “populist” and questioned the timing of the evictions.
“I will not negotiate with illegal people. If you are in our country illegally and you invade land illegally, we have no choice but to confront you appropriately. And that is our attitude,” said Lesufi.
He stressed that the issue of housing was being dealt with by multiple departments, but insisted all interventions would be humane.
“We can’t fold our arms when our province is being turned into a shanty province. We will never do that and we will never tolerate that,” said Lesufi.
“We will be merciless on this issue. Any other person that intends to build informal settlements in our province, they must know that they will not receive flowers from us,” he said.
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