Tshwane by-law inspectors hit Sunnyside
The Tshwane mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya says the metro is going to reclaim buildings owned by the city that are being used in shady dealings.
Multiple buildings owned by the metro in Sunnyside were discovered to be operating illegal businesses and residences during a recent by-law inspection led by Tshwane Mayor, Dr Nasiphi Moya.
Under the name, Reclaim Our City, the metro has been rolling out a series of multi-disciplinary operations in the CBD and surrounding areas since the start of the year in efforts to quell rampant lawlessness in the inner city.
This latest effort, carried out on April 2, saw the teams of municipal officials, police and workers visit several spots in Sunnyside including businesses and residences.
The mayor has previously stated that the metro will be paying close attention to Sunnyside, particularly due to the area’s reputation for being a crime hotspot.
“The programme has been going well for the past couple of months but this morning there is a specific call we’re making. All of these properties we’re visiting belong to the city, but the level of lawlessness, fraud and corruption that is happening with the leases of city properties is something that required our attention,” Moya said.
The mayor commented on this while at an Ethiopian restaurant 12 undocumented persons were arrested and drugs, as well as decaying food products and unrefrigerated meat, were recovered.
“This is not a fridge, that’s why I’m standing so comfortably here. This meat is not supposed to be hanging like that per our health standards. So the health practitioners will come to remove these things,” Moya said.
“It’s always a problem for us that our residents are subjected to this nonsense, where the business owners are not taking care of their businesses. These businesses are operating illegally from property owned by the city. We acknowledge that there’s deep corruption linked to the city’s leasing process. We have a lot of work to do in our effort to reclaim our city,” she said.
Another shop owner barricaded himself within his store when he saw the team arriving but authorities managed to weld their way through into the establishment.
The mayor also described a guesthouse the stakeholders visited as a “mini-Ethiopia” that’s operating in Sunnyside on a property that belongs to the city. She said work is underway to reclaim buildings owned by the city that have been hijacked through third-party leases.
MMC for Community Safety, Hannes Coetzee said that not only was the restaurant where 12 illegals were arrested selling drugs and rotten meat but also forging official documents.
“We found some of the drugs and the money. Inside we have found there’s a pastor doing fake marriages. He even got a machine where they print fake marriage certificates and we cannot allow that kind of lawlessness in our country. We are making a call to Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of this country to close the borders or we will close them for you [him],” Coetzee said.
Watch here:
This morning, while conducting a by-law operation in Sunnyside, we found several illegal Ethiopian restaurants selling drugs and rotten and unrefrigerated meat. These businesses are operating illegally from property owned by the city. We acknowledge that there’s deep corruption… pic.twitter.com/yFQt73Wxwu
— Dr Nasiphi Moya (@nasiphim) April 2, 2025
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