The Bad Buildings Mayoral Sub-Committee recently returned to Pretoria West to carry out several by-law enforcement operations, which resulted in the closure of businesses and the disconnection of services.

The effort was led by committee chairperson, MMC for Corporate and Shared Services, Kholofelo Morodi, and Community Safety MMC, Alderman Hannes Coetzee.

One business on Luttig Street was shut down with immediate effect after operating without any emergency exits, a practice Morodi said places customers’ lives at risk.

“This disregard for building compliance is unacceptable. You cannot build first and then request approval for your building plans. Should a fire break out, there would be nowhere to escape. We need people to comply, as failure to do so puts our communities at risk. Follow protocol and think about lives before your pockets,” Morodi said at the building in question.

The Bad Buildings Committee held a similar operation on February 4 on Luttig Street. Several infringement notices with a value of R36 500 were issued to businesses in the area.

This included four building regulation contraventions, eight health and safety notices, two waste management by-law violations and one electricity audit notice.

This recent crackdown comes after the Melgisedek Building fire hospitalised four people earlier this month.

The MMC said they refuse to wait for loss of life to address clear issues.

Morodi added that residents need to come on board and report bad/derelict buildings that are violating by-laws by reporting them to badbuildings@tshwane.gov.za.

“We’re not just here to arrest people and shut down businesses; we want the economy to grow.”

She said certain by-laws need to be complied with.

“We request that you go to City Planning, go do your applications, make sure your health certificates are in place, and your approved building plans are in place,” she said.

“We’re checking for non-compliance, and if your building or business is non-compliant, we have zero-tolerance for that. You’re not going to do whatever you want, be complaint and if not, we will shut it down,” Coetzee said.

At another closure, this time at a warehouse on Luttig Street, extra rooms with foreign nationals staying in them were found.

The lack of fire protection whilst surrounded by hazardous materials led to the closure.

Coetzee said when they return, they’ll be accompanied by Inter-departmental By-law Enforcement Committee (IBEC) operations to address the lawlessness.

“We have come to this shop and requested the owner to do the right thing and go to the city and apply for the correct accreditation. If you look at this, it’s a very serious fire hazard. There are also boxes and boxes of candles, even with glue. This is a real fire hazard,” he said.

Coetzee said the roof was all wood.

“So, no fire safety requirements are being met, we’re going to close the shop, and we’re going to allow the owner to go to the city and comply with all our by-law regulations.

We don’t want to close businesses, we want to grow the economy, but with these fire hazards, we unfortunately have to close the shop,” Coetzee added.

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