Tshwane metro reclaims CBD property with over 100 rooms
Over 500 people are said to be living in these rooms on the illegally occupied property belonging to the city.
The Tshwane metro recently disconnected water and electricity to hundreds of rooms on a property believed to be occupied illegally.
During a by-law operation in Sunnyside last week, Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya visited a property consisting of hundreds of rooms.
The stakeholders returned to the property on November 5, this time, to disconnect services.
The follow-up forms part of the mayor’s 100-day plan to revitalise the metro. One key component is by-law enforcement.
According to the mayor, the Re A Spana campaign sought to reclaim and transform public spaces in Tshwane.
“Last Friday, we were here with the Re A Spana programme where we visited some areas where our by-laws are not being respected. Today we assessed the same property,” Moya said.
“Firstly, this settlement is the city’s land. Secondly, the owner of these structures does not have a lease agreement with the city and we have over 500 people staying here. They have connected to our electricity and water illegally,” she said.
Moya said the owner will be brought to book for the infractions in due course.
MMC for Community Safety Hannes Coetzee said the programme ensured that this follow-up was supported by the health, water and electricity departments, among others.
“The city already has a blanket court order so we have zero tolerance if you do not abide by the law. What we also found is that this person has another three properties, which we will also investigate because this kind of behaviour will no longer exist in the City of Tshwane. We are coming with a tsunami,” Coetzee said.
Chief of the TMPD Yolanda Faro said the integrated by-law enforcement committee consists of all the departments within the metro that enforce by-laws.
“All the departments are here with the SAPS and the metro police where we as a team, become a one-stop shop and make sure that we enforce the by-laws of the city. We want to send a very strong message out there that we will enforce the by-laws of the city throughout all the departments and we are coming for these non-compliant buildings one by one,” she said.
Watch here:
Last week, we launched our 100-Day Action Plan as the new administration. One of our priorities is to deal with bylaw enforcement and lawlessness. The #ReASpana initiative is yielding results with an operation to reclaim a hijacked City building. @CityTshwane @TMPDSafety pic.twitter.com/fnE7wm2E6a
— Dr Nasiphi Moya (@nasiphim) November 6, 2024
Do you have more information about the story?
Please send us an email to bennittb@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
