Residents losing their homes to criminal syndicates

2 August 2017

I am deeply concerned by allegations brought to my attention that honest law abiding residents of the City are being illegally evicted from their homes by alleged criminal syndicates purporting to be in possession of valid eviction orders.

This follows claims by residents of Joburg South, such as Rosettenville, Kenilworth, Turfontein, South Hills and surrounds, and Windsor in the west of the city, whom allege to have suffered at the hands of such criminal syndicates.

The community goes onto state that these criminals illegally construct additional units or structures on property they have illegally acquired and rent out these units for their own benefit; all while illegally connecting to the City's services.

Most of these properties are then used as drug dens and turn our young girls as sex slaves.

I care about the overall well-being of the poor and marginalised within the City of Johannesburg. Our City suffers from massive inequality which is evidenced in our high unemployment rate and sprawling informal settlements.

Since taking office, addressing the need for housing has been one of my top priorities. However, the City has a backlog off 300 000 housing units and extremely limited resources for addressing that challenge. In this context, we cannot allow our poorest residents to be stripped of the roofs over their heads by criminal elements and rendered homeless. To do so would be to fail in our duty to protect the rule of law within our City.

I have therefore instructed the City’s legal team to investigate these allegations, provide a report on the matter and advise on how to proactively begin addressing this problem. Our Group Forensic team is going to intensify raids in these communities to profile the size of the problem.

We cannot allow any criminal activity to undermine the dignity and rights of our residents.

I will continue to do all within my power to ensure that the rule of law is respected and that our poorest communities are cared for.  

Issued by Luyanda Mfeka, Acting Director of Mayoral Communications, Office of the Executive Mayor, City of Johannesburg, 2 August 2017