The City of Johannesburg has vowed to step up raids in the inner city in a bid to tackle hijacked buildings.
Several people have been arrested since mayor Herman Mashaba started his controversial drive to clean up the CBD.
Five more were arrested early on Friday after a “crime prevention operation” in two hijacked properties in Hillbrow and Berea‚ Mashaba said in a statement.
The properties that were targeted during the operation include Arms Court in Berea‚ Vannin Court and Number 77 Wolmarans Street in Hillbrow.
“A total of five suspects were arrested for illegal possession of drugs. They are expected to appear in the Hillbrow Magistrate’s Court today. Twenty cases of alcohol were also confiscated during the operation‚” Mashaba said.
“Leading to the festive season‚ we are going to intensify these raids working (with) the various stakeholders. This is a period where property hijackers take advantage of the fact that people go away on holiday and hijack their properties.”
Mashaba’s inner city effort has been one of the flagship programmes of his administration‚ which wants to turn hijacked buildings into low-cost housing.
But his programme has been criticised for failing to provide suitable alternative accommodation to residents who are removed from the hijacked buildings.
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